Opioid misuse is considered a national epidemic (The White House Office of National Drug Control, 2011), however not much is known about school-based behaviors or experiences correlated to opioid misuse. This phenomenological study explored the correlation between externalizing/acting out behaviors in a school setting and opioid misuse and…

Background: E-cigarette prevention education aims to mitigate adolescent e-cigarette use. Such education is increasingly delivered through virtual/video-based teaching platforms (e.g. Zoom, Google Classrooms). However, there is little evidence about the effectiveness of virtual e-cigarette education compared to in-person education on adolescents'…

The study was conducted to find out the relationship between parenting styles and secondary students' drug addiction among adolescents in secondary schools in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area (L.G.A.) of Rivers State Nigeria. The study was guided by three research questions and similar number of null hypotheses. The study adopted a correlation…

Drug Outreach, Promoting Awareness (DOPA) is an undergraduate outreach program for local high school students designed to convey the neurobiological basis, risks, and addictive potential of commonly abused drugs. Here we describe DOPA and evaluate the program, including its impact on high school student attitudes about drug harm risk and…

There is no "magic potion" or vaccine to prevent youth from using alcohol or other drugs. Adolescent substance abuse prevention programs have been largely ineffective because the messaging is taken for granted. Efforts based on theories of growth and development patterns, and are inclusive of strategies beyond the classroom and home,…

The progression from prescription opioid (RXO) abuse to RXO addiction is not well understood in adolescents, nor is the progression from RXO addiction to heroin abuse. The purpose of this pilot study was to characterize the development of RXO drug abuse, RXO drug addiction, and heroin abuse in a small cohort of adolescents recovering from opioid…

The purpose of Science Education Against Drug Abuse Partnership (SEADAP) is to use the planarian animal model to develop an inquiry-based program to teach the science of drug addiction and pharmacology of drugs being abused. Upon completion of a SEADAP teacher professional development, study data reveals a favorable increase in teacher awareness…

The relevance of the study is due to the development of a new stage of prevention and the need to justify new educational goals and objectives of the pedagogical prevention of addictive behavior in the educational environment. The purpose of this article is to examine the totality of the necessary and sufficient individual resources, that are…

Formal education--four walled classrooms with a single teacher and multiple children in a school setting--did not exist in traditional Hawai'i. Traditional Hawaiian learning resembled contemporary vocational schools or specialized institutions of higher learning. Within these structures, Hawaiians became strongly rooted in cultural and familial…

This study aimed to examine (a) the impact of the change in the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" ("DSM") from a categorical to dimensional classification of substance use diagnoses, (b) the elimination of the legal criterion, and (c) the inclusion of a craving criterion in the "DSM"-5.…

The study aims were to examine (i) adolescents' attitudes towards family members who use a wheelchair in relation to other health problems and conditions, and (ii) the association between perceived wheelchair stigma and socio-demographic factors. Data were based on surveys from 2790 seventh to 12th grade students derived from the 2007 cycle of the…

This article highlights the problem of substance use and abuse among adolescents and discusses the important role of school leaders in addressing this problem. Drug and alcohol use among adolescents is a significant and serious problem. In fact, an alarmingly high number of students report that they have used drugs or alcohol. Substance use and…

"The Challenge" provides information and resources to help schools create safe and healthy learning environments for students. Articles in this issue include: (1) Research Shows Consequences of Drug Abuse on the Teenage Brain (Don Vereen); (2) Interview: NIDA [National Institute on Drug Abuse] Director Discusses Drug Abuse among Teens; (3) Know…

There may have been a time when we in Kenya considered the use or abuse of drugs as a problem relating only to Western world. Today it has become an African problem to the extent that a month hardly passes without media reports on large quantities of drugs having been intercepted in a number of African cities and towns. The results of the study…

This report synthesizes a number of national studies that show the intentional abuse of prescription drugs to get high is a growing concern, particularly among teens. The analysis shows that teens are turning away from street drugs and using prescription drugs to get high. New users of prescription drugs have caught up with new users of marijuana.…