The reasons for drug use are varied. Children may use drugs to satisfy their curiosity, conform to peer pressure, relieve anxiety, or have an adventure. But, whatever tempts them, we must teach children to reject drugs because drug use is illegal, harmful to their health, and interferes with academic and social development.
Drug information programs, while important, cannot stand alone as a deterrent to drug use. Current literature has focused on a "holistic" approach to preventing drug use. A holistic approach emphasizes a prevention strategy that takes into account the wide range of forces that affect children's lives. Parents, as the prime nurturers of their children's development, play a prominent role in preventing drug use. Schools, communities, social service organizations, religious groups, law enforcement agencies, the media, and local businesses also play vital roles (Soska, 1994).
During the last 30 years, the amount of research and theory related to the prevention of alcohol and other drug use has increased substantially. As noted by Gonzalez in section III, this increase in attention has not always been well focused or systematic. Most alcohol and drug-related studies have simply described current rates and patterns of use. A second category of studies has focused on identifying precursors and predictors of adolescents' drinking and drug use. These etiological studies, for the most part, have been fragmented and atheoretical. In general, this research has not provided practitioners with consistent direction to design effective alcohol and other drug prevention programs. Thus, the development of preventive interventions has proceeded somewhat separately from that of descriptive etiological research.
At the national level, the most comprehensive and influential prevention research to date has addressed cigarette smoking among junior and senior high school students. Despite the fact that alcohol is consumed and abused by more students than any other substance (Johnston, O'Malley & Bachman 1989), prevention of alcohol use among youth has received considerably less systematic study....................
