FCD Middle School Four-Day Course

The middle school years are a critical time for intense drug education and prevention messages. If kids are to navigate these years—and beyond—without the harmful use of substances, the full panoply of protective factors must be engaged at home and at school: drug education, emotional support, family communication, clear rules and expectations, positive role models, opportunities for pro-social bonding, and secure, fulfilling attachments to school and/or other institutions and groups.

Students who have had drug education programs in elementary schools continue to derive great benefit from ongoing exposure to information and discussion opportunities as middle and high school students. By sixth or seventh grade, some students have already begun to "experiment," and may have even graduated to regular use and/or abuse. Drug education may provide some of these kids with the facts and motivation they need to stop. For the majority of kids who have not yet tried alcohol or other drugs, education reinforces their decision to remain drug-free.

FCD's Four-Day Course for Middle School Students is rich with information. Kids this age typically enjoy learning and take pride in knowing lots of facts—the more bizarre the better. Friendships are important to middle schoolers, and they need to possess good refusal skills as they encounter riskier situations and become increasingly reliant on peers for behavioral and attitudinal cues.

Class 1: Addiction

Build a shared vocabulary by defining common terms
Educate students on the physical components of addiction
Remove the stigma of guilt and shame surrounding addiction
Clarify what it means to be in recovery
Offer hope on how others can get help
Identify the risk factors for addiction
Emphasize the dangers of experimentation
Encourage and support the non-use of alcohol and other drugs during adolescence

Class 2: Alcohol, Tobacco, and Marijuana

Educate on the potency of beer, wine and "hard" liquor
Illustrate the physical impact that alcohol has on the brain and body
Challenge the notion that alcohol is safer than other drugs
Address frequently asked questions
Discuss reasons for delaying alcohol use
Educate on tobacco, tar, carbon monoxide
Explain how nicotine works
Present the physical effects of smoking
Explain the effects of spit tobacco
Discuss perceptions and consequences of tobacco use
List the common terms for marijuana
Explain what marijuana is and what it looks like
Educate students on the long- and short-term consequences of marijuana use
Address the risks of one-time use
Clarify questions about marijuana's potency
Discuss myths surrounding marijuana use

Class 3: Facts About Other Drugs

Ask students which drugs they are most likely to encounter
Answer questions about specific drugs
Explore the risks of one-time experimentation
Educate on the addictive aspects of specific drugs
Brainstorm some of the common terms for specific drugs
Clarify misinformation that students may have
Share personal anecdotes
Discuss the long-/short-term consequences of becoming drug-involved

Class 4: Solutions and Alternatives

Help students identify protective factors already in their lives
Encourage new ways of developing protective factors
Support the non-user
Explore age-appropriate refusal skills
Validate our natural desire to get high
Offer a sampling of natural high techniques
Brainstorm other ways to get high
Discuss natural highs vs. getting high with substances
Educate on stress management
Identify warning signs of a problem
Define enabling and denial
Find an adult to trust
Encourage students to take care of themselves