Tyler Richardson wanted to make an impact on his classmates. For his senior project, he decided to research the effects of drug and alcohol use on young people. The results were so tragic and overwhelming that he took an unusual approach to get his message across.

"...he contacted 48 fellow students at random and asked them to sign a contract without divulging the contents to anyone, even their parents... Each agreed to be taken out of their classrooms, a few students every 30 minutes, by Island County Sheriff Deputy Laura Price. The number, 48 in all, represents the number of kids who die from drugs or alcohol every day in the United States."

When the students were pulled from class, they painted their faces white and donned black T-shirts which read "I just died...." Then they stood silently in front of the school as their classmates were leaving for the day. Some laugh or make sarcastic comments... until they read the T-shirts. Tyler thinks his fellow students got the message... no one was hurt or killed due to drugs or alcohol at their prom this year. Source: South Whidbey Record

Learn more about the long term effects of binge drinking and drug abuse at DrugRehabTreatment.com.

Labels: awareness, contract, peers

Teens do better in anti-drug counseling programs led by other teenagers than those led by adults, according to a new study from the University Of Southern California Keck School Of Medicine.

Researchers asked 550 high school students to take part in surveys before and after they completed drug counseling for tobacco, alcohol, marijuana or cocaine use. Those who took part in peer-led programs reduced their abuse by 15% compared to those in traditional programs.

Professor Thomas Valente said, "We found that social-network-tailored prevention curricula can be very successful in achieving long-term behavioral changes in teenagers."

Labels: counseling, influences, peers

Peer pressure works both ways. It can not only push teens to try drugs and alcohol, it can keep them from it as well. A recent study conducted through the University of Southern California found that a drug prevention program was more effective when it was run by peers instead of teachers or health educators.

"The study compared substance use among students participating in the prevention program Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND), traditionally led by a health educator or teacher, to the modified peer-led TND Network. TND held interactive discussions at the classroom level while TND Network divided the students into smaller groups composed of their friends, increased the number of group activities and a student-chosen leader led the discussion."

Drug use among teens in the peer-led groups dropped by 15 percent more than the teens in the standard program. The study emphasizes just how important it is for parents to be aware of who their kids' friends are and what they do for fun.

A positive peer culture, like the one employed at Mount Bachelor Academy, can help struggling teens turn their lives around.

Labels: influences, peers, prevention