NCJ Number
211448
Date Published
2005
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the role of schools in implementing environmental, community-based alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) prevention strategies.
Abstract
From an environmental prevention perspective, individual behavior, including ATOD behavior, is shaped by social, cultural, political, and economic processes within our communities. As such, ATOD prevention programs grounded in an environmental prevention model view ATOD problems as a community issue that requires a community solution. This article first discusses the importance of community and school involvement in the development and implementation of environmental ATOD prevention strategies. The second section focuses on the role of schools in championing specific policy changes concerning the rules and regulations governing ATOD use within the community, such as policies that restrict alcohol and tobacco advertisements targeting children and policies that restrict alcohol sales at family-oriented events. The third section discusses how school boards, administrators, faculty, parents, and students can become involved in the implementation process of the environmental ATOD prevention strategy. Indeed, it is the full participation of the community that will bring about positive societal change.