Is It Time to End the War on Drugs? - King County Bar Association

3. The Promise and Perils of Drug Abuse Prevention ProgramsChanging Approaches <strong>to</strong> PreventionThe his<strong>to</strong>ry of drug abuse prevention has shown very limited success. The earlydays of drug abuse prevention focused on scare tactics and moral suasion, exemplified byReefer Madness, a no<strong>to</strong>rious film produced by <strong>the</strong> Federal Bureau of Narcotics in <strong>the</strong> late1930s, which portrayed a “respectable” young man turned in<strong>to</strong> a crazed criminal after takingone puff of marijuana. The prevailing attitude reflected in that film, however, did not losecredibility until <strong>the</strong> 1960s, when sweeping cultural change included a generalized challenge<strong>to</strong> authority, and youth s<strong>to</strong>pped believing negative messages about drugs. 72In <strong>the</strong> late 1960s, drug education programs in schools began <strong>to</strong> focus on <strong>the</strong>pharmacology, <strong>the</strong> psychological effects and <strong>the</strong> health hazards of drug use, targeting highschool students as <strong>the</strong>y began <strong>to</strong> experiment with drugs, but such programs had nomeasurable impact on drug use. 73 By <strong>the</strong> late 1970s, two principal <strong>the</strong>ories had developed <strong>to</strong>guide school-based prevention efforts – “social learning” <strong>the</strong>ory and “problem behavior”<strong>the</strong>ory. “Social learning” <strong>the</strong>ory proposes that adolescents learn by directly modeling <strong>the</strong>behavior of peers and adults and reinforce <strong>the</strong> beliefs, attitudes and behavior of those around<strong>the</strong>m. School lessons designed <strong>to</strong> undermine adolescents’ misguided beliefs about substanceuse by <strong>the</strong>ir peers are <strong>the</strong> type of curriculum components informed by “social learning”<strong>the</strong>ory. 74 By contrast, “problem behavior” <strong>the</strong>ory posits that adolescents use illicitsubstances <strong>to</strong> fulfill certain needs and <strong>to</strong> cope with social anxiety, rejection, social isolation,boredom, low self-esteem, lack of self-efficacy, etc. Lessons designed <strong>to</strong> teach “life skills”and <strong>to</strong> foster “pro-social” development and social competency are <strong>the</strong> central curriculumcomponents arising out of “problem behavior” <strong>the</strong>ory. 75To this day, many drug abuse prevention programs are still based on ei<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong>“social learning” or “problem behavior” <strong>the</strong>ories, as <strong>the</strong>y attempt <strong>to</strong> impart social or lifeskills <strong>to</strong> youth and also attempt <strong>to</strong> dispel beliefs regarding <strong>the</strong> prevalence and frequency ofdrug use among peers. However, despite <strong>the</strong> popularity of <strong>the</strong>se programs, <strong>the</strong>ir formalevaluation has revealed only limited effectiveness in preventing or reducing alcohol ando<strong>the</strong>r drug use among children and adolescents. The “problem behavior” <strong>the</strong>ory has beencalled in<strong>to</strong> question recently by research demonstrating that “a large proportion of persistentserious delinquents are not involved in persistent drug use,” challenging <strong>the</strong> notion thatsimilar fac<strong>to</strong>rs validly predict a wide range of problem behaviors. 76 O<strong>the</strong>r rigorouslydesignedand large-scale evaluations of <strong>the</strong> “social learning” approach have also shown mostsuch programs as ineffective in preventing substance use and/or abuse over <strong>the</strong> long term. 7736