Substance Abuse Prevention Activities

Substance abuse is costly on many levels to individuals, families and society. Most substance abusers begin alcohol and drug abuse as adolescents, when curiosity and the need to become part of a group are strong and of a high priority. If alcohol and drug abuse prevention initiatives are to work, they must appeal to the same emotional needs of adolescents that cause them to use the drugs in the first place. They must satisfy curiosity, and help youth feel that they fit in with their peers through alcohol- and drug-free behavior.
  1. Normative Education Strategies

    • Normative education strategies have been found to be effective in the prevention of alcohol and drug abuse in young people. There are websites that include questionnaires and interactive communication opportunities for young people to discover the facts about how many young people actually use drugs and alcohol. A common misconception is that most young people abuse drugs as a rite of passage. Normative education strategies involve allowing young people to visit online sites in order to find out for themselves that this is a misconception. Online polls and questionnaires reveal that most young people are not experimenting with drugs or alcohol.

    Research Opportunities

    • Another effective substance abuse prevention strategy involves encouraging youth to do their own research on drug abuse and the destructiveness of addiction. Youth are encouraged to read, study and do research on substance abuse topics, including the cost of addiction to individuals, family members and society, in order to draw their own conclusions. The instructors do not preach or force any opinion on the students; instead, they are asked to report on their findings themselves. According to Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention and Policy Sources, this method of teaching is highly successful since it makes use of the natural curiosity of young people.

    Role Play

    • Structured prevention groups make use of role-play techniques to teach young people drug refusal skills. The instructor selects one group member to role play himself in a situation involving early recovery in which old friends, family members or former drug-using contacts attempt to get him to use drugs again. Other group members are told to say or do whatever they can think of to try to get this person to use drugs again after treatment. Such exercises allow newly recovering youth or those in prevention programs to experience saying "no" to destructive drugs. Suggestions are made by the instructor and other group members of ways to refuse drugs when they are offered, and the group is allowed to discuss their feelings about how the exercise made them feel after it is over.

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