A newly released study suggests that a well-designed in-school and community communication campaign really can dramatically cut marijuana and alcohol use among young teens.
In a study of 32 schools in 16 communities around the country, researchers found that the campaign cut in half the number of students who began using marijuana and alcohol during the two years of the project, compared to students in communities without the program.
"That's a startlingly strong effect," said Michael Slater, principal investigator of the study and professor of communication at Ohio State University.
Slater said the success of the campaign was largely due to the sophisticated, well-researched theme, developed over the past 15 years by study co-author Kathleen Kelly, professor of marketing at Colorado State University.
A very similar theme was recently adopted by Office of National Drug Control Policy for its national campaign, which it calls "Above the Influence."
In half of the communities, two middle schools received the "Be Under Your Own Influence" campaign.
In addition, an area-wide communication effort was made available in these eight communities, mirroring the "Be Under Your Own Influence" theme for the in-school campaign.
In these communities, volunteers provided posters to local businesses and organizations, organized anti-drug events, and provided information to the local media, with the goal of reinforcing the in-school communication efforts at the two local schools.
The other half of the communities had no media program of any kind.
In addition, half of all participating schools (both those with and without the media campaign) also offered participating students "All Stars," a well-respected substance-abuse prevention curriculum.
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