SCHOOLS WITHOUT DRUGS

A Plan for Us All
CONTENTS
WHAT CAN WE DO?
CHILDREN AND DRUGS
Extent of Alcohol and Other Drug Use Fact Sheet: Drugs and Dependence How Drug Use Develops Fact Sheet: Youth and Alcohol Effects of Drug Use Fact Sheet: Cocaine: Crack
Drug Use and Learning

A PLAN FOR ACTION
What Parents Can Do
Instilling Responsibility
Supervising Activities
Fact Sheet: Signs of Drug Use
Recognizing Drug Use
What Schools Can Do
Assessing the Problem
Enforcing Policy Seeing Policy
Teaching About Drug Prevention
Fact Sheet: Tips for Selecting Drug Prevention Materials
Enlisting the Community's Help
Fact Sheet: Legal Questions on Search and Seizure
Fact Sheet: Legal Questions on Suspension and Expulsion
What Students Can Do
Learning the Facts
Helping to Fight Drug Use
What Communities Can Do
Providing Support
Involving Law Enforcement
CONCLUSION
SPECIAL SECTIONS
Teaching About Drug Prevention
How the Law Can Help
Resources
Specific Drugs and Their Effects
Sources of Information
References

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
WHAT CAN WE DO?
A Plan for Achieving Schools Without Drugs
PARENTS:
1. Teach standards of right and wrong, and demonstrate these standards through personal example.
2. Help children to resist poor pressure to use alcohol and other drugs by supervising their activities, knowing who their friends are, and talking with them about their interests and problems.
3. Be knowledgeable about drugs and signs of drug use. When symptoms are observed, respond promptly.
SCHOOLS:
4. Determine the extent and character of alcohol and other drug use and monitor that use regularly.
5. Establish clear and specific rules regarding alcohol and other drug use that include strong corrective actions.
6. Enforce established policies against drug use fairly and consistently. Ensure adequate security measures to eliminate drugs from school premises and school functions.
7. Implement a comprehensive drug prevention curriculum for kindergarten through grade 12, teaching that drug use is wrong and harmful, and supporting and strengthening resistance to drugs.
8. Reach out to the community for support and assistance in making the school's anti-drug policy and program work. Develop collaborative arrangements in which school
personnel, parents, school boards, law enforcement officers, treatment organizations, and private groups can work together to provide necessary resources.
STUDENTS:
9. Learn about the effects of alcohol and other drug use, the reasons why drugs are harmful, and ways to resist pressures to try drugs.
10. Use an understanding of the danger posed by alcohol and other drugs to help other students avoid them. Encourage other students to resist drugs, persuade those using drugs to seek help, and report those selling drugs to parents and the school principal.
COMMUNITIES:
11. Help schools fight drugs by providing them with the expertise and financial resources of community groups and agencies.
12. Involve local law enforcement agencies in all aspects of drug prevention: assessment, enforcement, and education.
The police and courts should have well-established relationships with the schools.
"I felt depressed and hurt all the time. I hated myself for the way I hurt my parents and treated them so cruelly and for the way I treated others. I hated myself the most, though, for the way I treated myself. I would take drugs until I overdosed, and fell further and further behind in school and work and relationships with others. I just didn't care anymore whether I lived or died. I stopped going to school altogether .... I felt constantly depressed and began having thoughts of suicide, which scared me a lot! I didn't know where to turn..."
--Stewart, a high school student

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