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Activities that educate and engage adolescents can be very useful when trying to prevent drug abuse. This page lists some ideas for drug prevention activites that can be conducted in the schools, in community settings, and in the home. Links to websites with additional activities and other valuable resources are also listed.
Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Activities
- Hold a family meeting to discuss drug use. Develop an agreement about drug use within the family and have all family members sign it.
- Discuss how various drugs are portrayed on television and in the movies.
- Instruct students to watch a certain amount of television and to record the number of references to drugs and alcohol and how drug use was portrayed. Have each student share the type of television show he/she watched, the portrayal of drugs and alcohol, how he/she thinks it may impact youth. Similar projects could be done with radio, magazines, and newspapers.
- Discuss anti-drug advertising and the level of effectiveness on adolescent behaviors. Have students develop their own anti-drug radio or television ad.
- Hold special anti-drug activities during Red Ribbon Week at the end of October.
- Have students write and act out skits showing negative effects of drug use and ways to avoid drugs.
- Have your child (or your student) sign a pledge to be drug free. Involve them in the wording of the pledge and the design of the certificate.
- Invite guest speakers into the classroom to discuss the consequences of drug use. Speakers could include parents of a child killed in a drunk driving accident, someone who spent time in jail for drug possession, or an adolescent who suffered physical health effects associated with drug use.
- Have students brainstorm ways to say no or avoid drug use.
- Have students write an essay about their future career goals. Then have them write how drug use could interfere with these plans.
- While wearing the fatal vision goggles (see Resources page), have students try to walk on a tape line on the floor. Discuss the potential consequences of driving while impaired.
- Have students develop a list of reasons why adolescents might drink or use drugs. Then have them develop a list of consequences to drug use. Finally, have them develop a list of ways to be drug-free.
- Discuss sports and other activities your child/your students enjoy and the specific body systems needed to participate in these activities. Then talk about the physical effects of specific drugs and how they would impact a person's skill level for these activities.
- Have students make a list of common stressors among adolescents. Ask them to share ways that adolescents may deal with each of these stressors. Then group the stressors into helpful or hurtful coping strategies. Discuss how drug use can be a harmful coping strategy and how it can be a stressor itself.
- Ask students to develop a list of ways to get "high" without using drugs. Some ideas are playing sports, laughing, listening to music, watching TV, doing volunteer work, dancing, singing, or performing in a play.
Links to Activities
www.acde.org/educate/Lessons.htm
www.lessonplanet.com/search/Health/Drug_Abuse
www.healthteacher.com
www.edhelper.com/cat70.htm
www.drugfreeaz.com
www.nida.nih.gov/GoestoSchool/nidag2s.html
teens.drugabuse.gov/parents/index.asp
www.theantidrug.com/teachersguide/classroomactivities.html
www.madd.org/under21/
www.inhalants.org/
www.acde.org/youth/quiz.htm
Other Resources/Teaching Tools (detailed information for each item listed below can be found on the Resources page of this website)
- Media Sharp: Analyzing Tobacco & Alcohol Messages
- Media Tool Kit for Anti-Drug Action
- 101 Ready-To-Use Drug Prevention Activities
- Dangers of Drugs: Transparencies
- The Key CD-Rom from Mothers Against Drunk Driving
[Keywords: alcohol, other drugs, prevention]
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