Tactics and Approaches
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Scare Tactic
During the 30's to 60's national policy saw drug use as a way to escape pain and avoid reality. The corresponding prevention appraoch involved scare tactics that drmatized and sometimes exaggerated the negative aspects of drug use. Frequesntly, "one-shot" presentations were given to young people in an attempt to elicit fear. Many youh did not accept this information as factual and it had little effect on their use of alcohol, tobacco and other drug use.
Information Dissemination
By the late 1960s, drug use was considered a national epidemic. Increasing numbers of youth sought "psychedelic" experiences. Prevention efforts focused on information dissemination, primarily through films and speakers in the schools. This approach assumed that youths did not understand the dangers and consequences of drug use and that greater understanding would prevent experimentation. However, some studies indicate that this approach actually stimulated curiosity and may have encouraged, rather than discouraged drug use. Information dissemination efforts would probably have had more effect if they had been used in conjunction with other prevention strategies.
Affective Education
In the early 1970s, drugs were used for a variety of reasons: to intensify or speed up experiences, to escape, to expand perceptions, to relieve boredom, and to conform to peers. At that time, it was believed that if young people felt good about themselves they would avoid drug use. The prevention response was to provide fact-based curricula in the schools that focused on the individual. Initiatives did not use a holistic, community-wide approach. As a result, the multiple risk factors in students' lives, the community, and the culture in which he lived were not addressed. Further, current research does not support the idea that drug use is the direct result of low self-esteem, poor decisionmaking skills, or inadequate social skills.
Alternatives (Positive Youth Development)
In the mid- to late 1970s, society developed an increasing tolerance for drug use, as experimentation among youth became more widespread. In response to this climate, prevention efforts focused on keeping youth busy, productive, and stimulated in supervised, drug-free activities. Parents began to form organizations to combat drug use. Affective education efforts were continued. Researchers today question the success of the alternatives approach when it is used in isolation from other approaches.
Comprehensive
From the mid-1980s to the present, the cause and effect factors in drug use have come to be seen as increasingly complex. Several earlier prevention approaches have been modified in a renewed effort to reach individuals and communities. In addition, environmental approaches have been added as critical components of today's interventions. Environmental approaches address the social settings, institutions, and economic contexts in which people live, because these contexts have a strong bearing on the risk for substance abuse. Environmental risk factors commonly cited in research include: Cultural, legal, and social norms, community mobility, influence of peers, neighborhood "disorganization" (such as a high crime rate or low sense of community).
