"This publication does not offer a pre-packaged programme of education for drug abuse prevention that can be picked up and implemented. It is rather an attempt to provide a conceptual basis upon which teachers, policy makers and school administrators can make decisions about school based drug prevention programmes in order to achieve greater success in education terms" -- p. 6.

Although schools have the primary responsibility for educating children and adolescents, schools alone cannot prevent the use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. Preventing youth from smoking, drinking, and using drugs must be a collaborative effort, jointly undertaken by the school, community, and youths themselves. This guide was developed to explain the partnerships that schools and communities can create to share the responsibilities of planning, funding, and implementing preventive strategies and programs. The first section presents a conceptual framework for planning by reviewing the extent of the substance abuse problem among youth, identifying misconceptions that lead to ineffective programs, defining drug use as a behavioral problem determined by many systems of influence, exploring the need for an integrated approach to prevention, identifying both risk and protective factors within students' influence groups, formulating a new definition of prevention, and introducing a comprehensive health approach to drug prevention. The next section develops a leadership role for schools, explaining how to build a partnership among schools, law enforcement, and the community; identifying the planning steps; recommending a comprehensive program for the school site; considering community- and school-based program strategies; and listing criteria for preventive programs and curricula. The final three sections of the guide look briefly at the intervention plan, school policy, and program support. Relevant sections of California legal codes, resources, and references are appended. (NB)

The Educator's Guide to Substance Abuse Prevention is for educators and other school personnel who are concerned about student drug use and school violence. It will help them to appreciate and use their humanity, professional skills, educational ideals, and the school curriculum as tools for substance abuse prevention. Teachers' concerns are addressed in several ways. First, the text provides a guide through which they may resolve personal and professional concerns about the commitments, limits, and boundaries of their working relationships with students. Second, it describes tasks that teachers can perform and mental health issues they can address in creating classroom policies, procedures, and rules to promote healthful learning activity in the classroom. Third, the author summarizes and interprets research and theory about substance abuse as they apply specifically to educational prevention and to professional teaching practice--arguing that classroom management strategies, learning activities, and social interaction are a teacher's primary tools of prevention, and showing how teachers may use these tools in any curricular area and without direct reference to drugs. A highlight of this text is its emphasis on helping teachers to explore drug-related issues from within the context of their own curricular specialties and to integrate substance abuse prevention with the curriculum in many school subjects--including the arts, literature, social studies, history, government, science, and culture. Action-oriented prevention strategies based on these content areas are suggested. The Educator's Guide to Substance Abuse Prevention: *focuses primarily on teaching, learning, and prevention rather than on information about drugs; *helps teachers to better use what they already do, know, and are in order to respond competently, responsibly, and with sensitivity to the needs of their students; *attends to the needs of teachers who do prevention work and the needs of children who are the target of prevention efforts; *describes student disappointment and disillusionment with family, school, and community as sources of risk and the legitimate domain in which teachers may serve a curative role; *provides extensive coverage of historical, social, and cultural issues related to substance abuse and school violence; and *alerts teachers to the risk to children posed by extremist adult groups, prominent negative role models, popular culture, and peer pressure.