DANGEROUS LESSONS
Drug Education May Turn Our Kids On Rather Than Off, Writes Professor
Ann M. Roche

There is growing concern in the community about young people and the
use of drugs.

Mostly the focus of attention is on illicit drugs, despite evidence
that the greatest harm comes from drugs society has deemed legal for
no logical or consistent scientific reason.

A wide, and growing, array of solutions and interventions have been
explored. But the perennially popular option is school-based drug
education. It’s a curious fact of life that many of the things that
seem logical, right, proper and obvious sometimes are just plain wrong.

Unfortunately, school-based drug education is not the panacea many
might think it is.

For several decades, research has assessed the impact on young people
of school-based drug education programmes. Overwhelmingly, the
findings are consistently poor, with even the successful programmes
producing tiny gains.

Some studies have not only found no positive gains, but have actually
shown increases in drug using that could be attributed to the
drug-education programme.

If this sounds a little extreme, one only has to look to the
large-scale Project DARE in the United States, stopped in many cities last
year after evaluations found that school children In the programme were
showing
increased (rather than the hoped-for decrease) levels of use.

This is not an isolated example of the negative impact that
school-based drug education programmes can have; rather, it is
depressingly common.

How can this be? The single factor that underpins any response to this
question is the complexity of both human beings and of drug-using behaviour.

It is simply a misunderstanding of the potency of school-based
interventions to believe that a limited number of hours of input,
often by teachers who are less knowledgeable about street drugs than
their students, can effectively counteract the range of enormous
forces that impact on adolescent behaviour.

What can school-based programmes reasonably expect to achieve? Well,
basically, what they are good at — and that is increasing knowledge
and, to a lesser extent, bringing about certain changes in attitudes.

In terms of influencing behaviour, teachers are generally very
realistic in assessing the extent of their impact. They well recognise
that the relatively limited time that they spend with young people in
a classroom setting is exactly that — limited.

Some school-based drug education programmes may be
beneficial.

FOR instance, programmes designed to improve self-esteem and
problem-solving abilities are worthwhile but they are of limited
efficacy as strategies to change drug-related behaviours.

So, where does that leave us? If school-based drug education, is not
the universal panacea, then what does work? What can we as Individuals
or as a community do?

The evidence overwhelmingly indicates several clear directions.
Firstly, jobs and life opportunities for young people. It is not by
coincidence that problematic drug use occurs mostly among those young
people for whom life prospects are the least positive.

As a society it is our responsibility to ensure that young people have
a future, job prospects and aspirations. It is not their role, but
ours, to ensure that this occurs.

Hence, to focus on school-based drug education places the onus of
responsibility at the feet of young people.

The alternative view is for the adults to ask: how we can ensure a
safe passage from childhood to responsible adulthood?

Then there is the role of parents and adults generally who have close
contact with young people. Again, the evidence is very strong. Good
relationships between young people and parents and other adult figures
is a strong protective factor against a wide range of potentially
problematic behaviours, including drug use.

This is not a parent-bashing exercise. Rather, this is a plea to give
parents more support in what is an increasingly difficult task.

Good parenting is not innate; it has to be learned. And society has a
responsibility to help parents with this challenging role.

The research evidence is abundantly clear that a small amount of
assistance with parenting can bring about major life changes in young
people — and can unequivocally reduce problematic drug use.

The questions therefore arise as to why we choose to support the least
effective options while ignoring strategies that can actually help
address the growing problem of drug use in our community.

Why are we so stuck in believing what several decades of research have
shown to be ineffective will somehow miraculously work?

Don’t our young people deserve better than this?