A good drug prevention program includes the following steps...

-- It helps students recognize peer pressure and advertising gimmicks;

-- It develops personal and social skills to reject such pressure;

-- It teaches that drug use is not the norm among young people;

-- It provides information about the physical and psychological effects of drug abuse;

-- It openly discusses ways of preventing drug abuse;

-- It uses interactive teaching techniques such as role-playing and mentoring;

-- It actively involves family and community in anti-drug activities;

-- It trains and supports teachers to help curtail drug abuse among their students; and

-- It provides teachers, parents, and local officials with training and support materials that are relevant for students of the age groups being targeted.

-- Family Relationships - Prevention programs can teach skills for better family communication, discipline, and firm and consistent rulemaking to parents of young children. Research also has shown that parents need to take a more active role in their children's lives, including talking with them about drugs, monitoring their activities, getting to know their friends, and understanding their problems and personal concerns.

-- Peer Relationships - Prevention programs focus on an individual's relationship to peers by developing social-competency skills, which involve improved communications, enhancement of positive peer relationships and social behaviors, and resistance skills to refuse drug offers.

-- The School Environment - Prevention programs also focus on enhancing academic performance and strengthening students' bonding to school, by giving them a sense of identity and achievement and reducing the likelihood of their dropping out of school. Most curriculums include the support for positive peer relationships (described above) and a normative education component designed to correct the misperception that most students are using drugs. Research has also found that when children understand the negative effects of drugs (physical, psychological, and social), and when they perceive their friends' and families' social disapproval of drug use, they tend to avoid initiating drug use.

 The Community Environment - Prevention programs work at the community level with civic, religious, law enforcement, and governmental organizations and enhance antidrug norms and prosocial behavior through changes in policy or regulation, mass media efforts, and community-wide awareness programs. Community-based programs might include new laws and enforcement, advertising restrictions, and drug-free school zones - all designed to provide a cleaner, safer, drug-free environment.