NCJ Number
131285
Journal
Phi Delta Kappan Volume: 72 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1990) Pages: 310-314
Date Published
1990
Length
5 pages
Annotation
There has been a documented decline in certain forms of drug use by children and youth, although statistics do not include the 15-20 percent of high school students who drop out of school and are especially at risk for drug abuse.
Abstract
Prior to 1964, drug use by school children was negligible to nonexistent in the literature of pediatric medicine, public health, law enforcement, and education policy. Within a decade, however, youthful drug use was epidemic. Spiritual and political explanations have been advanced to account for the youth culture of the 1960's and 1970's, but perhaps the most persuasive explanation has to do with the sheer number of postwar baby boomers who entered adolescence between 1965 and 1974. These youth grew up in conditions of unprecedented affluence and mobility, and significant tensions arose between adolescents and the adult order. By the late 1970's, youth began to abandon the outward trappings of adolescence and became more self-centered and conservative. Illicit drug use among children and youth peaked between 1978 and 1980. The current debate about the drug problem is viewed as an obstacle to building a consensus that children develop best in a drug-free environment that includes drug-free schools. Childhood learning losses due to the effect of drugs on the nervous system are lifelong and profound. In addition, children become chemically dependent more quickly than adults, and their record of recovery is poor. A systemic approach to drug abuse prevention is suggested in which supply, distribution, and use factors are considered. Schools are ideally structured to prescribe health measures, and school children are generally responsive.