There should be a more honest discussion about drugs in schools, says an addictions expert

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – For decades, the message when it comes to drug use has been clear: Just say no to drugs.

But does that really send the best message to children?

An addictions researcher is advocating an approach that doesn’t involve preaching.

Dan Reist with the Centre for Addictions Research of BC says kids need to be allowed to think through the issue themselves, arguing drug education should be part of the mainstream curriculum.

For example, he feels social studies is a prime place learning about drugs could be incorporated.

“Every civilization they study, –whether it be in the new world or whether in Europe or whether it be in the classical Mediterranean world or whether it be the Asian cultures — psychoactive substances was an important part of their religion, their economy, their culture,” says Reist.

“We would be able to learn some of the positive things about why humans have been attracted to these things. We would be able to look at what harms have emerged and how have different civilizations addressed those harms. And then children would be in a much better position to make informed choices than if we just say to them ‘just say no’ or if we say to them, ‘If you use drugs, all hell will break loose and you’ll go to hell in a handbasket,’ which they know is not true because it doesn’t ring true with their experience,” he tells us.

“We need a more honest, nuanced discussion about these things that allows children to look at it in an honest way.”

It could even be part of English studies.

“We could embed this in English because many authors have claimed that they write under the inspiration of alcohol or many stories actually relate to social issues, health issues — a variety of issues related to psychoactive substances,” says Reist.

“Why not study those in the way we study other human factors in literature, social studies, [and] science? Let’s look at the effects of psychoactives on the brain so that they learn them in a science context instead of in this separated out health context that doesn’t have the ring of authenticity to kids.”

He points to math as another example. “One of the key things that children need to learn as they grow up and as they start to use alcohol — and most of them will — is how to manage blood alcohol level. That’s a prime example that you could use when you’re teaching kids how to develop spreadsheets, for example, where you need something that responds to a formulaic relationship of different variables. Blood alcohol levels is a classic example of that.”

Reist argues that rather than marketing a certain message, this method gives kids the knowledge and skills they need to survive and thrive in the real world.

He argues traditional drug education doesn’t change behaviour or the harm that emerges from it.

“We have about six [school] districts in the Interior that will be actively implementing new strategies of trying to embed the messaging into mainstream curriculum this starting in September. An elderly colleague — more my age group — nearing that retirement stage today he said to me at lunch, he’d been in this all his professional life. He said ‘I think things are beginning to change.’ I think that’s a hopeful point that there is openness to change.”

The group Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) says it doesn’t have major concerns about what Reist is advocating, but does say you may have to be careful about kids thinking a drug is good because it was done by past generations.

“The DARE program says basically the same thing,” says Chuck Doucette with the program.

“It’s not just ‘Don’t do drugs.’ It’s ‘Think carefully about whatever you do and make a good decision based on the information available to you.’ So when the DARE officer takes kids through the program, they talk about potential consequences that the kids themselves bring up, in reference to smoking or drinking or doing drugs, and then they say ‘Okay, is that a consequence that you would like to have?’ Or ‘What could you do that would lead to a better consequence?'”

“Any information that helps the child make that good choice of course is good,” he adds.

Doucette believes there needs to be more emphasis on making good decisions, saying there are a lot of schools that don’t have the DARE program or anything similar.