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Growing up in California, I can recall the hours my fifth-grade class spent in the D.A.R.E.(Drug Abuse Resistance Education) Program, when police officers would come teach us about how to say no to drugs. They gave us workbooks with scenarios, coloring sheets, and gave us pencils that said “Don’t Do Drugs” on the side. I remember me and my friends giggling as they purposely shaved it down to “Do Drugs,” feeling like we were amazing comedians.
In hindsight, half a decade later, I realize that I hadn’t taken the program particularly seriously as a child, and I can barely remember what I had learned. So were national educational programs like D.A.R.E and Red Ribbon Week effective? How can we make improved programs in the future? To get to the bottom of this, I’ve asked high-school juniors from around the country to reflect on their experiences with drug use prevention programs in their elementary schools.
“I remember we had Red Ribbon Week,” said Oluwatobiloba Ojomu, recalling memories from Wadsworth Elementary in Georgia. “But I tend to forget information [I’ve learned] before middle school.”
Ojomu had noticed something similar to what I had, that the lessons were so long ago in elementary school that by junior year, we had forgotten almost everything.
Another issue that arose when considering the age range of participants was that the more complex, serious topics would not be able to be explained to a classroom of 11-year-olds.
“I think they need to work on making the language more palatable to younger audiences because it was too jarring sometimes,” stated Anmol Baraj, a high-schooler from California, referring to the D.A.R.E curriculum taught at his K-8 school, Cottonwood Creek. “They also need to talk more about healthy communication and talking to adults because that’s more important than ‘just say no’ for a fifth grader.”
This opinion is supported by the National Library of Medicine, which states that “compared with adolescents with poor family functioning, adolescents with good family functioning have a lower possibility and risk of drug use.”
When children get along with their parents or other adult figures, they are comfortable with sharing their struggles. They have help if they ever face troubles relating to opioids, and this reduces their chances of addiction. Fostering communication and encouraging children to talk to adults can help with this goal, and focusing more on this could be useful in an alternate curriculum.
However, certain drug use prevention programs still have helped students.
“The program seemed like a great thing because it taught kids about the effects of drugs,” Kayla’Nicole Valentine said as she recalled her experience with Red Ribbon Week at Locke Hill Elementary in Texas. “I remember the events taking place in the student union, and hearing from volunteers and actual people who studied drug abuse.”
Another point for consideration in improving opioid education is including testimonies and insight from experts. A study from Boston University states, “the drug-education burden should not fall on regular classroom teachers but on specialized educators.”
Experts on substance abuse prevention would be better equipped to provide effective drug education than normal teachers and police officers. This aligns with the broader idea that drug education is a specialized field that requires specific knowledge and skills that could improve the curriculum.
This article was written as part of a program to educate youth and others about Alameda County’s opioid crisis, prevention and treatment options. The program is funded by the Alameda County Behavioral Health Department and the grant is administered by Three Valleys Community Foundation.
