DOCUMENT RESUME ED 068 335 SE 014 904 AUTHOR Martin, William C., Ed. TITLE Operation Drug Prevention: A Curriculum Guide K-12. INSTITUTION University of West Florida, Pensacola. PUB DATE 72 NOTE 287p. EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$9.87 DESCRIPTORS Community Action; *Curriculum Guides; *Drug Abuse; *Health Education; *Instructional Materials; Reference Materials ABSTRACT This K-12 sequential curricular program in drug prevention was developed by teachers in six participating countiesin Florida, as a result of the Drug Abuse Education Act passedby the Florida Legislature making such education mandatory in the public schools (K-12) beginning in the 1971-72 schoolyear. This program is based upon the creation of behavior involving the realmsof cognitive, affective, and normative domains, which is hoped will result in the individual's abstinence from theuse of drugs. The program was not written by "experts" in the field of drugs and narcotics nor by a professional writer, but by experiencedclassroom teachers. It was developed as an initial step in devisinga curriculum program and is also offered as a basis fora community action program. Generally, it is written in outline style and organized according to three areas: content, suggestedstudent activities, and resources and materials. Extensive appendixes include a list of slang terms, films, sources, a student dialogue on theuse and abuse of drugs, supplementary materials, directory of health services and agencies, school policies, Florida statutes,etc. A bibliography of books, journals and pamphlets follows. (LK) Pfr ... _ t TrA; Au,tr LIS DEPAH1MI NI OF141.111u ELAJE ATIONK ;%f EF Aill OFFICE OF IDIJCA FION 4N, 4 OPERATION DRUG PREVENTION: A CURRICULUM GUIDE K-12 Cooperative Endeavor of Six West Florida Counties Bay, Holmes, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa Walton, Washington Supported by the Educational Research and DevelopmentCenter at The University of West Florida Pensacola, Florida and the Florida State Education Department Second revised edition The University of West Florida Printing Pensacola, Florida Winter, 1972 3 INTRODUCTION There is little doubt that the illegaluse of heroin, marijuana, and LSD in this country ison the increase by nearly every segment of our population. However, abuse of illegal chemical agents has increasinglycome to involve younger persons. For example, half the known addicts in the United Statesare under age 30, and growing numbersare under age 20. During the last few years, there has been a veritable epidemic ofheroin abuse in those 16 years and under; with increasing frequency heroin is used byaffluent youngsters. Marijuana is a drug that has also caught the fancy of theyoung. Studies conducted in 1966- 1969 indicate that about 15per cent of all college students use marijuana on more or more occasions, and about 10 per cent of all high schoolstudents use marijuana on one or more occasions.The use of LSD by college students has been placed as high as 15 per cent in Californiaand 7 per cent in Connecticut to 5 per cent country-wide. There also appears to have beena profound increase among school-age youth in illicit use of stimulants of theamphetemine variety and depressants of the barbiturate family. A recent (1970) survey of college students in Florida conducted by the AttorneyGeneral's office revealed that more than 2,250 students drop out of college eachyear because of heroin addic- tion; and 20 per cent of the students in Floridauniversities, colleges, and junior colleges are regular users of marijuana (arather alarming increase over the 1966-1969 figures). Many agencies in society have studied the drugabuse problem both super- ficially and in depth, andnumerous proposals have been made for the solution of this problem. An overwhelming majority of these proposals take theform of legislation which increases penalties fordrug abuse or provides for the rehabili- 4 tation of drug users to society, both ofwhich have proven to be ineffective and expensive and may tosome extent even contribute to the magnification of the problem. Other proposals have been forwarded whichsuggest that "something" should be done in our public schoolsregarding drug education. These proposals have been somewhat vague and general innature since they are made by those who are not able to be specific due toa lack of expertise and a lack of accurate data by research experts withrespect to what is possible regarding curricular innovation in drug abuse education inthe public schools. Most communities in Florida havecome to the awesome realization that students "must" be educated to thedangers associated with the use and misuse of drugs and narcotics. It is another thing entirely, however, for theschools in the communities to provide the rightkind of education relative to the drug problem. The one-shot program, utilizingresource people such as state or local police, druggists, medical doctors,addicts or ex-addicts, social workers,etc., in an assembly program oncea year is of little or no value. Also doomed to failure are the kinds ofprograms designed by relatively uninformed teachers who are assigned the job of includinga few remarks about drug addiction in their programs while they also talk about alcohol,tobacco, communism, and sex. Teachers who know less about drugs than their students are marked for failure. Anything less than a well-planned, coordinated, implemented program will no doubtrange from ineffective to catastrophic. Recently, the Florida Legislature passeda Drug Abuse Education Act making such education mandatory in the publicschools (K-12) beginning in the 1971-72 school year. Inherent in this billwas the realization by Floridians that in the final analysis there is onlyone way to solve the drug abuse problem; and that is to reach the minds of the youthwho are relatively untainted by the ii prevalent attitudes which condone,even encourage, the abuse of drugs. The public schools provide the only reasonablevehicle for reaching the developing minds of youth; and since such schoolsare already inexistence, the cost of developing such a program should benegligible. Educators cannot take the attitude thatany meager effort is good, or that once the subject in introduced throughan assembly speaker the "law has been covered" or that a haphazard "crashprogram" will do the job. It was felt that the solution to the problemof drug abuse was to be found in a curricular program introduced in the elementary school, the middleschool, and the high school. This program is based upon the creation ofbehavior in- volving the realms of cognitive, affective,and normative domains which is hoped will result in the individual's abstinence from the use of drugs. In addition, a significant aspect of the solutionincludes a definition, on the part of the teachingarofession, of thetype of behavior which is desirable, and the development of educationalexperiences which contribute to the develop- ment of that behavior. The sequential curricula program containedherein, beginning at the kinder- garten level and extending through gradetwelve, was developed by teachers in the six participating counties who teachat the specific levels for which they are written. It was not written by "experts" in thefield of drugs and narcotics nor by a professional writer. Rather, it was drawn up by experiencedclassroom teachers who know the needs ofa particular level, the peculiarities of specific age groups, and certainly, and most importantto the secondary level, by people who are knowledgeable ina subject discipline and in attitudinal development having received specibl trainingto teach in these areas. The program began at the Regional Conferenceon Drug Abuse Education (Novem- V w ber, 1970) through introducing regionaleducators (a seven-county area) to suggestions as to how a curricularprogram on drug education might be developed' and specific involvement of teachers in the formulation ofstatements of de- sirable behavior which could be reduced to behavioral objectivesnecessary to the development of the curricularprogram for the prevention of drug abuse. From this meeting developed a proposal for Operation Preventionto be funded by the six participating counties. Each of these counties felt the proposed program was needed in their schools and approved theplans for Opera- tion Prevention. A meeting was then held involving representatives from each county, the University of West Florida and the Florida StateDepartment of Education. After the meeting each county coordinator returned to hiscounty and selected a number of outstanding teachers from gradesK-12 who were willing to cooperate in developing a drug abuse educationprogram. The first of three regional monthly meetingswas held on March 3, 1971, in De Funiak Springs. Part of each of these meeting dayswas devoted to "informa- tion giving" relative to drug abuse, andpart to developing ideas, exploring attitudes and outlining curricula plans. Between these monthly meetings each county team held individual meetings and invited all other teachersin their county to make a contribution to the program. The result was that every teacher in the six counties had an opportunity to guide the developmentof Operation Prevention. In addition, each of the six counties began developinga written curricula focusing on drug abuse education. These activities culminated in a week long Operation PreventionSummer Workshop held at the University of West Florida, June 14th-18th.This workshop differed from the typical drug abuse education trainingprograms in several im- portant respects. 7 iv The program