Substance Abuse Prevention

Thank you for your interest in the Office of Prevention Program’s substance abuse prevention efforts.  Navigating the teenage years is difficult and the presence of drugs in our society complicates these difficult years.  Providing education and awareness of substance use and abuse is imperative to promoting the academic success of our students. Current findings suggest that substance abuse and violence prevention programs can improve school performance and academic achievement.

Additionally, as seen by the graph below, prevention of use and the age of onset is a HUGE predictor in terms of adult dependency:

The Office of Prevention offers a number of avenues for schools to enhance their efforts toward creating safer and healthier schools.  In brief, the options available are below.  Please make sure to check the corresponding Web-pages to find more information and resources:

1)      Research-based materials for classroom presentations

a.       Too Good for Drugs – Alcohol (e.g., underage, binge drinking), tobacco/smoking, and violence prevention 8-12 week, elementary, researched based series of classroom presentations that can be utilized by school based personnel or presented by outside agencies.

b.       Keepin’ It Real – Discovery Health’s Middle and High school version.

2)      Classroom Presentations and Exercises

a.      Red Ribbon Week

b.      Brown Ribbon Week

c.       Reality Avenue – a series of ½ hour prevention programs using Broward County students.  The substance abuse episode is titled, “Addiction – How REAL is it?”  Webcast and corresponding classroom exercises at www.BrowardPrevention.org

d.      FCAT-related substance abuse related prevention activites and classroom lessons

3)      Assemblies – we do not conduct assemblies and do not recommend them unless the proper groundwork has been laid by pairing them with supportive classroom lesson plans or/and research based presentations plans.

4)      Trainings/Workshops: Presentations can be tailored to meet needs of audience, for example: overview of all substances, marijuana, prescriptoin drug abuse, inhalants, tobacco, alcohol, trends, etc.

a.      Staff Trainings – Highly recommend!  Minimum 1 hour, minimum attendees 30, for a comprehensive training, we prefer 2-3 hours.  Teacher/faculty trainings – Provides overview of the trends in youth substance abuse/experimentation, how to identify symptoms/signs, as well as prevention/resistance techniques.

b.      Parent trainings – The minimum time is 1 hour, the minimum attendees is 30. Provides overview of the trends in youth substance abuse/experimentation, how to identify symptoms/signs, prevention/resistance techniques, as well as how to identify and build risk and protective factors.

5)     Social Norms – click on Social Norms Webpage to learn more.

6)     Pro-Social Clubs such as SWAT, SADD, GSA, Peer Counseling, etc.

Substance Abuse Prevention Resources and Links

There are innumerable resources available to students, parents and professionals for substance abuse prevention and intervention.  Below is a short list that is in no way comprehensive, but a great jumping off point for finding more:

  • The Anti-Drug http://www.theantidrug.com/teachersguide/
  • Broward County Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services, (954) 831-1580
  • CADCA: Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, http://www.cadca.org, 1-800-54-CADCA
  • DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, 1-877-726-4727, http://prevention.samhsa.gov/
  • D.F.Y.I.T. (Drug Free Youth In Town), http://www.dfyit.org/, 1-305-971-0607
  • 211 Broward, First Call for Help – “Help is Just a Phone Call Away!” A 24-hour, free, confidential telephone Helpline for crisis/suicide counseling, empathetic listening and community information and referrals for health and human services resources in Broward County. Just Dial 2-1-1 or (954) 537-0211. Go to http://www.211-broward.org or access the directory online athttp://www.irissoft.com/fcfb/
  • Mothers Against Drunk Driving http://www.madd.org/ 1-877-GET-MADD
  • National Institute of Mental Health, http://www.nimh.nih.gov, 1-301-496-4000
  • NIDA for Teens: Facts on Drugs, 1-877-NIDA-NIH, http://teens.drugabuse.gov/facts/index.asp
  • Parent Info from the National Institute on Drug Abuse http://teens.drugabuse.gov/parents/
  • Students Against Destructive Decisions, http://www.sadd.org/, 1-877-SADD-INC
  • The Switchboard of Miami, http://www.switchboardmiami.org, (305) 358-HELP (4357)
  • Teach your Child Refusal Skills http://family.samhsa.gov/teach/refusal.aspx
  • Tobacco Free Kids http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/ 1-202-296-5469
  • Too Good for DrugsTM K-8 is a school-based prevention program designed to reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors related to alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) use among students. 1-800-750-0986   http://www.mendezfoundation.org/
  • The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS): YRBSS monitors priority health-risk behaviors among youth in grades 9-12 in public and private schools through the United States. The YRBSS includes a national school-based survey (YRBS) conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state, territorial, tribal, and local surveys conducted by state, territorial, and local education and health agencies and tribal governments. Violence-related behaviors captured by YRBS include getting in a fight (on and off of school property), carrying a weapon (on or off of school property), carrying a gun (off of school property), being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property, feeling unsafe on the way to or from school, being the victim of forced sex, and being the victim of dating violence.  OPP facilitates the administration of the YRBS every year, pleasego to OPP YRBS to find out more.