Narconon® Drug Abuse Prevention across America

There are currently 15 million drug users in the United States and an increasingly large number of those are children. Ours is a nation that largely praises quick fixes and easy relief, which leads to the event of experimentation followed by addiction.

Narconon staff have educated over 1.5 million school children through the Narconon drug education and training programs. Our program has demonstrated effectiveness in keeping kids off drugs.

Outcome studies show that early drug prevention must give young children the truth, the vital information and tools they need to make their own choice to keep away from drugs. Our track record over the past two decades is impressive with key results being reported.

The Narconon Drug Education program assists schools in meeting several criteria for U.S. Department of Education Title IV (Safe and Drug Free Schools) funds:

• By continually monitoring trends in youth substance abuse, the Narconon Drug Education program keeps pace with changing community needs. Presentations are real and reflect what kids are actually doing.

• The Narconon program surveys every presentation to generate data on changes in perception of risk, program efficacy and for quality control. Schools are required to use strategies that provide evidence of prevention or reduction in drug use. The Narconon program consistently obtains these results.

Narconon® Drug Education

In the development of an effective prevention program, Narconon staff first addressed where drug education efforts have failed in the past. The basic method used formerly in drug education has been the "scare tactic" approach. This was an attempt to scare youth away from drugs. It never worked; and in many cases perpetuated drug use by presenting information that was easily discredited.

In the Narconon drug education presentations to schools, we have refined an approach that speaks powerfully to kids in their own language.

Our professionals, many of whom are former addicts, speak from their own experiences with drugs and give a realistic picture of drug use. We don't just tell kids to "say no"; we educate them to come to that conclusion on their own, and more importantly, show them how to say no and what exactly they are saying no to.

Our study of questionnaires filled out by students has shown us the precise information that causes kids to:
- Decide to stop using drugs (for those who already used them).
- Change their mind from possibly trying or using drugs to a firm decision not to use them.
- Believe more firmly in their decision not to use drugs (when they state they are already against them).

The Narconon program also utilizes the powerful role of humor in getting through to children. We discovered that the more humor we included in the presentations, the better the results. A direct correlation was found between the level of humor and the children's perceived dangerousness of drugs, though the message is clearly a serious matter. With this light approach, kids see the dangers of drug use and really "get it."

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