NCJ Number
169255
Date Published
1998
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This chapter seeks to demonstrate that classroom drug education programs have been failures.
Abstract
The Government Accounting Office (GAO) examined 21 classroom drug curricula commonly used in public schools and found that they typically presented students with "nonjudgmental information" combined with a process of "decision making" that urged students to consider the "alternatives," and courses vaguely described as "refusal skills." Not a single course was based on a "just say no" approach, or stated that illegal drugs are wrong or warned students that they must not consider the "alternative" of using illegal drugs. Another GAO report disclosed that some Federal funds specifically intended for drug education curricula had been diverted to psychological and attitudinal courses. The programs do not comply with the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act which requires all public schools to teach that "the use of illicit drugs and the unlawful possession and use of alcohol is wrong." Other studies have produced similar disappointing results, including the finding that the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program failed to demonstrate lasting effects.