href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@37097@[email protected]#p24" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">24

Fact Sheet: Legal Questions on Suspension and Expulsion 25 Fact Sheet: Tips for Selecting Drug Prevention Materials 26 Teaching About Drug Prevention 27 Enlisting the Community 29   What Students Can Do   Learning the Facts 31 Helping Fight Drug Use 33   What Communities Can Do   Providing Support 37 Tough Law Enforcement 39   CONCLUSION 40   SPECIAL SECTIONS     Teaching About Drug Prevention 44   How the Law Can Help 49   Resources 59 Specific Drugs and Their Effects 59 Sources of Information 67 References 74   Acknowledgments 78 Ordering Information  

---

"I felt depressed and hurt all the time. I hated myself for the way I hurt my parents and treated them so cruelly, and for the way I treated others. I hated myself the most, though, for the way I treated myself. I would take drugs until I overdosed, and fell further and further in school and work and relationships with others. I just didn't care anymore whether I lived or died. I stopped going to school altogether.... I felt constantly depressed and began having thoughts of suicide, which scared me a lot! I didn't know where to turn...."

—"Stewart," a high school student

---

CHILDREN AND DRUGS 

---

Chart 1
Percentage of 13-Year-Olds Who Have Used Marijuana, 1953-1982
Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse Household Survey 1982

Children and Drugs

Americans have consistently identified drug use among the top problems confronting the Nation's schools. Yet many do not recognize the degree to which their own children, their own schools, and their own communities are at risk.

Research shows that drug use among children is 10 times more prevalent than parents suspect. In addition, many students know that their parents do not recognize the extent of drug use, and this leads them to believe that they can use drugs with impunity.

School administrators and teachers often are unaware that their students are using and selling drugs, frequently on school property. School officials who are aware of the situation in their schools admit, as has Ralph Egers, superintendent of schools in South Portland, Maine, that "We'd like to think that our kids don't have this problem, but the brightest kid from the best family in the community could have the problem."

The facts are:

• Drug use is not confined to certain population groups or to certain economic levels in our society; it affects our entire Nation.
• Drugs are a serious problem not only in high schools, but now in middle and elementary schools as well.
• All illegal drugs are dangerous; there is no such thing as safe or responsible use of illegal drugs.
• Although drug trafficking is controlled by adults, the immediate source of drugs for most students is other students.

Continuing misconceptions about the drug problem stand in the way of corrective action. The following section outlines the nature and extent of the problem and summarizes the latest research on the effects of drugs on students and schools.

Chart 2
Percentage of High School Seniors Who Have Used Cocaine
Source: Institute for Social Research 1986

Extent of Drug Use 

Drug use is widespread among American schoolchildren. The United States has the highest rate of teenage drug use of any industrialized nation. The