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Drug Education at the Elementary Level
Laura Bruce Prevention Specialist
Starting Upstream
Never Too Early to Start
• If we wait, we may be too late!
• Kids are listening!!
• Parents are more engaged
• Kids must hear the messages multiple times!!!
• We have more control over their environment now
Start Now, Help Later
John Hopkins Bloomburg School of Public Health Study
“Kids who smoked cigarettes before the age of 15 were up to 80 times more likely to use illegal
drugs than those who did not”
John Hopkins Bloomburg School of Public Health, Cigarette Smoking Gateway to Illegal Drug Use. http://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2000/smoking-drugs.html
UNDERAGE DRINKING
Strengthening the Arrows
Prevention Strategies
Perception of Availability
Perception of Acceptability
Perception of Harm
Whose mind can we change?
Underage Drinking and Tobacco– First use of alcohol is 13, tobacco is 12!
– 17% drink regularly
– 10% drink to get drunk
– Marketed to youth
– Drugs of initiation
Marijuana Concerns:
• More kids are in drug treatment programs for marijuana use than for any other drug.
• Marijuana now is much more harmful than it was at Woodstock.
• 1 in 6 youth who use marijuana will become addicted, 1 in 10 adults will become addicted.
• Young people using marijuana frequently are more impulsive, less attentive, less motivated, unable to retain informationas effectively, and slower to make decisions.
• Regular use of marijuana is robbing our youth of their IQ points, quality mental healthy, memory, sexual safety, and increasing their risk of car crashes.
Marijuana Edibles
Marijuana Concentrates
Vape Pens
E-Cigarettes
Prescription Drug Abuse
• Prescription Drug Abuse
– Used for both self-medication
and recreational use
– Prescription painkillers are as addictive as heroin
– Nationally, youth use has surpassed marijuana use– 1 in 5 youth have misused a prescription pain medication
– Often leads to heroin use
Energy Drinks and Downer Drinks
Evolution of Prevention Education
From:• Just Say NO• Awareness and
Education• Drug-Free Activities• Scare them straight
To: • Center for Substance
Abuse Prevention Strategies
• Evidence based programs and practices
• Principals of Effectiveness
• Risk and Protective Factors
• Developmental Assets Model
Key Prevention Frameworks
Principles of Effectiveness Addressing Elementary Age:
• Prevention programs aimed at key transition points, such as transition to middle school or high school, can produce beneficial effects even among high-risk families and children.
• #7: Prevention programs for elementary students should target improving academic and social-emotional learning such as early aggression, academic failure, and school dropout. Education should focus on the following skills:
– self control
– communication
– social problem solving
– emotional awareness
– academic support (especially in reading)
Risk and Protective Factors
Those factors identified that differentiate those who use drugs from those who don’t.
• Risk factors are those associated with greater potential for drug use
• Protective factors are associated with reduced potential for such use.
• Focus on family and peer relationships,
and school and community environments
Developmental Asset Model
Dr. Peter Benson, with Search Institute,
identified 40 “character traits”. Assets are:
• Concrete, common sense, positive experiences and qualities essential to youth
• Powerful building blocks that influence youth and their choices
• The more Assets our young people have the fewer “at risk behaviors” they engage in
(see handout included in packet)
Age Appropriate Objectives
(What do we talk about and when?)
Efforts should discuss:
• Good health practices
• Differences among foods, poisons, medicines, and drugs
• Personal responsibility for one’s actions
• Rules regarding drug use (bringing drugs on bus/school and consequences)
Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home
Preventing Substance Abuse in Elementary School
Grades K-3
Efforts should discuss:
• How to identify different drugs
• The effects of drugs
• What addiction is
• Why some substances are dangerous
• Peer, media, family, and community influences on substance abuse
Grades 4-6
Additional Elementary Strategies
From Preventing Substance Abuse:
Interventions That Work:
• Early decision making and resistance skills
• Early mental health promotion efforts
(self-esteem, stress management, and communication skills)
Resources andModel
Programs/Curriculums
Four Cornerstones of Drug Education
1) Students must know the FACTS
2) Be aware of their own FEELINGS
3) Communicate with their FAMILIES
4) Set goals for their FUTURE
Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home
Preventing Substance Abuse in Elementary School
http://www.thirteen.org/closetohome/pdf/CTHelementary.pdf
FACTS
Students are more likely to absorb information when they do the work of finding it. Have students:
• Bring in articles/pictures about cigarettes, alcohol and other drugs for a substance abuse bulletin board
• Differentiate between helpful drugs (prescribed by a doctor) and unhealthy drugs
• Design posters on drug prevention and resources
FEELINGS
Facts tell the “what” of drugs; feelings are about the “why” and “why not.” Have students:
• Brainstorm ground rules for creating a safe environment (post in the classroom)
• Create skits that explore why people use drugs (peer pressure, curiosity, rebellion, unhappiness, depression, trauma) and how they can get help.
• Move, or draw pictures, to music that elicits feelings (joy, sadness, excitement, etc.). Also discuss other mood altering factors such as weather, illness, friendships, holidays, etc.
FAMILIES
Strong, supportive families can discourage drug use; drug use within families may distress children or predispose them
to use drugs.• Invite parents/guardians to a student-created health fair
(science exhibits and “Let’s Stay Healthy” student presentations.
• Have students construct mobiles or draw pictures that portray their families. Discuss how family members depend on and support one another.
• Post the sign “Nobody Sets Out to Be an Addict.” Discuss compassion toward people with drug problems and how young people can make healthy decisions, even if family members use drugs.
FUTURE
The best defense against drug use is a future worth staying drug-free for. Have students:
• Determine a one-year academic or personal goal, along with one-month, and one-week progress charts (sub-goals) and steps needed to attain them.
• Create collages showing their dreams for the future, including pictures of role models they’d like to emulate, places they’d like to visit, things they’d like to do, and families, careers, and traits they’d like to have.
• Write a report about how someone they admire overcame obstacles to success.
NIDA’s BRAIN POWER
• Educates students on the science of how the brain works, the effects of drugs on the brain, and the process of addiction.
• Highly interactive lessons that correlates to required National Science Education Standards
• Involves students in discovering how to promote good brain health, and how abusing substances harms the brain and body.
NIDA Brain Power contd.
Grades 4-5 Includes 6 modules, parent newsletters, posters, and videos
Module 1: Drugs in Society
Module 2: Your Amazing Brain
Module 3: Neurotransmission
Module 4: How Stimulants Affect the Nervous System
Module 5: Alcohol, Marijuana, Inhalants
Module 6: What is Addiction
Keep a Clear Mind
Grades 4-6 Cost: $4.25 per student• Take-home drug education program for
students and their parents.• Designed to help children develop specific
skills to refuse and avoid use of "gateway" drugs.
• Four weekly lessons based on a social skills training model and five activities to be completed at home with a parent.
• Small incentive, parent newsletters, etcprovided
Other Elementary Model Programs:
• The Trust Program in Miami – the goal is to equip students with the protective factors needed to make responsible/healthy choices. These factors are: self-awareness, communication skills, positive alternatives, decision-making and drug information.
• Know Your Body – the program uses games, simulations, and role plays to help students practice healthy skills outside the classroom. The program teaches self-esteem, decision-making, goal setting, assertive communication, and stress management.
• Growing Healthy – the curriculum is based on the premise that if children understand how their bodies work and appreciate the factors that affect their health – biological, social, and environmental – they will be more likely to establish good habits during their informative years.
Information Activities
Targeting 4-5th graders:
• ATOD Scavenger Hunt
• ATOD Tic-Tac-Toe
• Find Someone Who..
TCMHS Resources
• Parent UP Campaign Materials
• Coming Soon--Elementary Prevention Toolkit (Middle School Toolkit is done!)
• Education Presentations
• Funding and resources through local coalitions
