).
The Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act declares alcohol and other drug education and prevention to be essential components of a comprehensive strategy to reduce demand for and use of drugs in the United States (Joyner, 1997, p. 1). Currently, more than 75 percent of schools have a required course in health education to help provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to adopt healthy lifestyles (Grunbaum et. al., 1998, p.2). The most common content areas in the area of drug education required by state mandates include drug and alcohol abuse prevention, tobacco use prevention, and nutrition (Kann et. al., 1995, p. 291).
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) maintains that, at a minimum, a school health education program should provide factual information about the harmful effects of drugs, support and strengthen students' resistance to using drugs, collaborate drug-abuse prevention efforts with parents and other community members, provide strong school policies as well as services for confidential identification, assessment, referral to treatment, and support groups (often peer-assisted) for drug users (DHHS, 1991, p. 298A).
Specifically, drug education programs must dispel the myth that everyone is using drugs by including components that acquaint participants with local statistics. Also, they must teach drug refusal skills under conditions that can be transferred and used in real life situations, and present the negative consequences of using drugs (Black et. al., 1998, p. 88). Thus, they must contain an experiential component where students are taught to resist pressure exerted by peers or adults to use tobacco through modeling, role play, and guided rehearsal of appropriate refusal skills (dhhs). Recent studies have indicated that successful programs help students develop social resistance skills training (Dusenbury et. al., 1995, p. 420).
Social resistance skills training ...