School-Based Approaches to Drug Abuse Prevention: Evidence for Effectiveness and Suggestions for Determining Cost-Effectiveness

Considerable effort has been expended over the past two decades to understand the causes of drug abuse and to identify effective prevention strategies. Much of this work has taken place in school settings, mainly because schools provide easy access to large numbers of individuals judged to be the primary target population for prevention efforts. They also provide a reasonably suitable environment for conducting prevention research studies. Despite their traditional educational mission, schools have been increasingly directed by State and local governments to assume responsibility for addressing an array of social and health problems. While not enthusiastic about mandates that some may see as distracting schools from their primary mission, many educators have a growing recognition that problems such as drug abuse are a significant barrier to achieving basic educational objectives. On a Federal level, for example, the U.S. Department of Education has included drug-free and safe schools as one of its goals for improving the quality of education in this country.