Safety First, a project of the Drug Policy Alliance, was launched in 1998 after the San Francisco Chronicle published a letter written by Dr. Marsha Rosenbaum to her son, Johnny. As he was about to start high school, she wanted to outline her concerns about alcohol and other drugs that he might encounter in high school and provide some realistic strategies on how to stay safe.

Following an overwhelming response to her letter, Dr. Marsha Rosenbaum wrote Safety First: A Reality-Based Approach to Teens, Drugs and Drug Education to provide parents with the tools needed to evaluate and discuss strategies for protecting their teens from drug abuse.  In 2007 she authored the fourth edition of the text under a new title, Safety First: A Reality-Based Approach to Teens and Drugs. Since the original publication of the booklet, more than 225,000 copies have been distributed worldwide in English, Spanish, and Chinese. The booklet has also been translated into Russian, Ukrainian, Romanian, Czech, Hebrew and Portuguese.

After five years of educating parents about drugs, educators began to ask if we had a Safety First approach that could be implemented in schools. This led to creation of the California Statewide Task Force for Effective Drug Education, co-chaired by former California state legislators, John Vasconcellos and Jackie Goldberg. The work of the task force culminated in the publication of the booklet, Beyond Zero Tolerance: A Reality-Based Approach to Drug Education and School Discipline. This resource, written by Task Force chair, Dr. Rodney Skager, offers a new model for honest, reality-based drug education with interactive learning, compassionate assistance and restorative practices in lieu of exclusionary punishment.

Building on these models of reality-based drug education, the Drug Policy Alliance New Mexico developed a statewide methamphetamine education project for teens. The project, funded by a U.S. Department of Justice grant, was championed by U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico). As part of the project, DPA New Mexico produced an innovative drug education DVD with Facilitator’s Guide, Just4Teens: Let’s Talk about Meth and Other Drugs, that serves as a tool for teachers, counselors, prevention specialists, and parents to initiate an open, honest discussion with young people about drugs and drug use.  Shaped by more than 70 teen focus groups participants as well as the young people on screen, Just4Teens is truly a video by and for youth.

In addition to our work supporting parents and schools, the Safety First Project is committed to opposing the expansion of policies that that run counter to well-established principles of how educators and parents can best promote healthy choices and life styles among adolescents. Random student drug testing programs—the latest strategy coming out of the Bush Administration— are invasive, unproven, expensive and, perhaps most important, potentially counterproductive. Testing can erect barriers to participation in extracurricular activities -- the very activities that provide structure and supervision during the peak hours of adolescent drug use, from 3-6 p.m.  Testing also may trigger oppositional behavior, such as trying to "beat" the test and can erode relationships of trust between students and adults at school, damaging an essential component of a safe and rewarding learning environment.

In 2004 we launched a public education campaign in conjunction with the American Civil Liberties Union to provide parents, caregivers, and educators with tools to oppose these deeply problematic policies. Our educational booklet, Making Sense of Student Drug Testing: Why Educators Are Saying No, documents the key flaws in random student drug testing as well as the components of promising alternatives.