Over the years in the U.S., teachers and many others who work with children and teens have done what they can to try to influence youths to stay away from illegal drugs. And I'm sure that a lot of these adults, at times, feel frustrated, as lots of teens elect to try drugs anyway, sometimes with devastating consequences. But for those who try to persuade youths to stay away from illegal drugs and feel frustrated that their message often falls on deaf ears, I would like to say that the anti-drug program in my high school back in the 1990's worked for me. I was successfully persuaded to stay away from drugs. So for any adult who feels like their message isn't getting through to youths, think again. Some youngsters do listen.
I've read statistics (if you want I can find them) that suggests programs such as DARE actually increases youth drug use.
D.A.R.E. is a program driven by The System. That alone is enough to inspire many to react defiantly. Frank discussions between parents and their children has a more positive effect, particularly when the parents set an example with their own behavior. A parent who covertly uses illegal drugs comes across as a hypocrite, and the children know more about your real actions than you may think. Asl, it's not just illegal drug use that raises the Hypocrisy banner. Heavy alcohol use does also, and also use of tobacco products. If you want your kids to live clean, walk the walk.
Are you positive that you would have became a drug user (abuser?) if the teachers didn't warn you? I mean is it possible that you would have stayed away anyhow (how do you know this helped you?)?
I think the Anti-Drug campaign I've seen in my elementary, middle and high school years weren't really working for me. I am drug-free and never taken any but this is all they tell you. "Don't do drugs. Don't do drugs. It's bad for you". This was the vague message they told me when I was around 9-10 years old many years ago. How the hell was I know what they were talking about? They never said what these drugs are, what they do and why it's bad. Luckily when I got older, I did research and observed people who used to be on drugs or smoked. Now I know why you don't do it. The people that spread this anti-drug, anti-smoking message to school students is not good enough. it's really a political agenda. I don't think passing around rubber bracelets saying "I'm drug-free" and spreading the same vague message over and over isn't going to give kids the clear picture on how bad these drugs are.
I graduated D.A.R.E and did drugs anyway. I didn't do much more then educate me about the effects of the drugs, and some of the science about how they worked. To be fair, I was hanging out with a whole bunch of people who did drugs, and they all did drugs because their parents did drugs. So...there's that.
