Drug Education: Some Impressions from Experiences in Illinois

Abstract

The concept of training workshop dominates the approach of the State of Illinois to drug education, although programs of many modalities are currently operating within that state. The factual content of drug education and its associated vocabularies can tempt an educator to label himself an “expert” on drugs. Facts, while indispensable to effective drug education, are 1) scarce, and 2) only part of the education associated with drugs. Drug abuse is often symptomatic of other problems. Young and old may tend to make more of the “issue” of drugs than a pseudoscientific controversy. Simplistic models of drug use and abuse cannot explain all drug taking behavior, nor can they fully contain implications for changing adverse drug taking behavior. Insofar as education is a science, it is an applied science. We should move rapidly beyond creating “awareness” of the drug problem and begin to equip people with community action skills.