“The most effective approaches teach students how to resist and deal with powerful social influences. These approaches rely on interactive teaching methods and require a commitment to teacher training.”  Philip (2006) This is Your Brain on….Understanding and Curbing Adolescent Substance Abuse.

I find it interesting that, according to this article, the most effective method to help prevent drug use among teens is teaching them to deal with social pressure. I find it interesting because it is implicitly stating that most teenagers would make the right decision were it not for their peers. That is very promising and somewhat surprising. I also think that in order for them to make the right decisions, they must be accurately informed of the dangers and consequences of doing drugs. Though the article states that being armed with the accurate information alone is not extremely effective due to adolescents general disregard for risks, if this information is paired with instruction on how to resist and deal with powerful social pressures, then adolescents have a much better chance of making good decisions. I grew up in a time when the effects and consequences of drugs were exaggerated, which just amplified the distrust many youths had for the authority figures propagating this information. This distrust and misinformation did little to help adolescents make good decisions or to form meaningful relationships with their teachers and other adults who could otherwise provide valuable support to them. Adolescents, like all others, deserve to be told the truth. They also need strategies to think independently and critically, particularly in regard to peer pressure. I really hope that there is more of a commitment to teacher training in this.

It is  discouraging that more teacher training seems to be the solution for many of the issues facing students today because it implies that not enough is being done on many levels.

However, the evidence is very clear that “scare tactics” do not work with most teenagers. The days of “black lungs” demonstrations for tobacco abuse are fading. As much as we would hope that students understand the basic elements of how their brains function, knowledge alone has not reduced risk-taking behavior in many students (YRBS, 2003).

— This is Your Brain on … Understanding and Curbing Adolescent Substance Abuse

Doing drugs is a quite prevalent phenomenon in middle schools; alcohol and tobacco are largely used as well. One thing that I noticed is that there are multiple reasons why students chose to do drugs, and I think understanding why students use drug could help students get rid of drug abuse, which is, in my opinion, better than the traditional “scare tactics”.

I actually know very well on the “scare tactics”. My grandfather is a heavy smoker. No matter how we convince him and even show him the terrible result of smoking; he still didn’t want to kick his smoking habit. From his opinion, he didn’t feel the bad result yet but he experienced the relaxation and felt pretty good when he smoked. Then we came up with a new strategy— find an alternative for him. My grandpa likes eating peanuts, so we suggested him that each time when he wanted to smoke, he could eat some peanuts. Grandpa agreed and at last we surprisingly found that he smokes less than before. It is why I feel it will be helpful that educators could study on why students made such decision, so they can develop corresponding strategies to help them get rid of it.

I have watched a video interviewing a woman who has drug abuse during her adolescence. She said, as most of her peers, she decided to do drugs under peer pressure. While doing drugs was considered as a “shared activity”, adolescents who seek for group acceptance and being socially inclusive would be easily “surrendered”. Other kids like Todd, (the boy introduced in chapter 10) choose to use drugs to seek for better performance in tests. One tricky thing about drug is that the user usually cannot feel the risk or bad results clearly, but they notice consciously that they benefit from it, for example, they can actually feel that they are more engaging in the task after having the drug.

The key in this strategy to find out reasons why students do drug is communication. Be a trustworthy person and listen to your students is quite essential. However, one normal phenomenon is that, they would want to look for support and agreement from adults, which proves doing drug is nothing bad. I have met the situation once that a middle school student asked me if I did drug when I was in his age.I didn’t know how to reply so I soon switched the topic.

In short, as what the author suggested, knowledge alone is not the best way to help students step away from drugs. Getting to know them and offer helps from the very fundamental level is more useful and permanent.