It may seem like drug and substance abuse is an issue on the rise, and it may seem like it hasn’t improved. The truth is that drug abuse prevention has drastically changed for the better.
Health teachers have been pushing harder to educate and bring awareness to the situation, bathrooms have faced multiple restrictions and it is hard to go anywhere without seeing or hearing about it.
This doesn’t mean it’s worse than it has been. This issue has actually persisted for decades. Desi Saylors, Olympia High School health teacher, believes the message about this issue has changed. “The parents and adults cared back then but they were letting fear lead, and now the movement is to let education lead,” Saylors said.
Systems of preventative measures like the Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or D.A.R.E, were the main programs in place. This movement was designed to scare students and keep them away from dangerous activities, rather than educate them on the effects of drugs. Education has been proven to be a better strategy to prevent substance abuse. The D.A.R.E program ended up receiving fewer funds due to it being ineffective.
The message has shifted and is now focused on educating students about this topic rather than creating fear. Carmen Kardokus, Olympia High School health teacher, says that schools are improving. “We do a better job of educating students about the effects, long term as well as short term, and trying to give them strategies for thinking about why you would engage,” Kardokus stated.
Despite the improvements in education, drug abuse has seen one negative change: not the amount of it, but instead the type. “I don’t think it’s gotten any better, I think it’s gotten way more dangerous,” Saylors mentioned.
This is the main motivation for this improvement in education. With the risks of drug usage becoming higher, it is more important for students to be informed than it has ever been. So far, it has been successful.
These new prevention systems have shown an increase in effectiveness with the amount of student drug abuse starting to decline. Substance use compared to decades ago has changed, for the better. However, it is not the substances nor the students that have changed, it is instead the education and prevention system
