Print Resources Safety First Materials  Safety First: A Reality-Based Approach to Teens and Drugs
Marsha Rosenbaum, PhD
This booklet provides parents of adolescents with balanced information about alcohol and other drugs, as well as tools they need to evaluate and discuss strategies for protecting their children from substance abuse. [PDF] [Order]  Beyond Zero Tolerance: A Reality-Based Approach to Drug Education and School Discipline
Rodney Skager, PhD
This booklet offers a comprehensive, cost-effective approach to high school drug education and school discipline focused on helping teenagers by bolstering the student community and educational environment. This unique approach combines honest, reality-based drug education with interactive learning, compassionate assistance and restorative practices in lieu of exclusionary punishment. [PDF] [Order]
Other Materials  Addiction-Proof Your Child: A Realistic Approach to Preventing Drug, Alcohol, and Other Dependencies
Stanton Peele, PhD, JD
In a world where binge drinking, recreational and prescription drug abuse, chronic overeating and anorexia, and Internet gambling and pornography are all too common among teens, it’s time to rethink conventional wisdom about addiction. We clearly need something more than “just say no.” This book is the alternative.
Adolescent Time Use, Risky Behaviors and Outcomes
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Government
This U.S. government study analyzes national data on how adolescents spend their time and the resulting behaviors and outcomes. Are Zero Tolerance Policies Effective in the Schools? An Evidentiary Review and Recommendations
Russell Skiba, Cecil R. Reynolds, Sandra Graham, and others
A review by the American Psychological Association of school discipline research shows that zero tolerance policies developed in the 1980s to stop drug use and curtail unruly and violent behavior in schools are not as successful as previously thought in creating safer environments in which to learn. Posted with permission. Building a Better Teenager: A Summary of What Works in Adolescent Development
Kristin Anderson Moore, PhD and Jonathan F. Zaff, PhD
A brief written by researchers at Child Trends dedicated to studying children, youth, and families through research, data collection, and data analysis. The Case Against Adolescence: Rediscovering the Adult in Every Teen
Robert Epstein
This book argues against “infantilizing” young people by preventing them from assuming responsibilities commensurate with their capabilities. D.A.R.E. Bibliography
Jennifer Johnson-Spence
A collection of articles and studies reviewing the D.A.R.E. program. Drug Education in a Climate of Zero Tolerance: Finding Solutions vs. Minimizing Problems
Rodney Skager, PhD
Rodney Skager outlines alternative approaches to drug education for young people in the October 2006 edition Drug Education in Schools in the Australian publication Of Substance: The National Magazine on Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs.
 Drugs in American Society
Erich Goode, PhD
Written by a sociology professor and primarily for college students, this book provides perhaps the most comprehensive overview of drug use, legal issues, history, and sociological perspectives.
Effective Drug Education for Youth
Rodney Skager, PhD
This critical review by Rodney Skager, Professor Emeritus in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, examines current so-called science-based drug education and related youth policy. He offers six findings and associated recommendations for needed reforms, as well as a summary of the evidence.
More Effective and Humane Youth Policy Starts by Treating Youth with Respect
Rodney Skager, PhD
In this paper written for The Hamilton Fish Institute’s 2007 National Conference on Safe Schools, Rodney Skager argues that it is time to abandon infantilization policies and zero tolerance ideology in the treatment of youth. He outlines an approach to drug education that promotes mutually respectful interaction between young people and the adults who deliver it.  From Chocolate to Morphine: Everything You Need to Know about Mind-Altering Drugs
Andrew Weil, MD and Winifred Rosen
Written for high school students by a physician and a former high school teacher, this book provides information about the drugs (including alcohol, caffeine, and even chocolate) available today. It is comprehensive, objective, and beautifully illustrated. You can read our review here. Real Justice: How We Can Revolutionize Our Response to Wrongdoing
Ted Wachtel
Ted Wachtel offers a moving and powerful account of the growth and development of restorative justice conferencing, which holds offenders accountable and satisfies victims more effectively than our courts and school disciplinary processes.  The Reconsider Quarterly: The Education Issue
This special issue on drug education published by Reconsider: Forum on Drug Policy. Includes articles by Marsha Rosenbaum, PhD and Rodney Skager, PhD.
Safe and Smart: Making the After-School Hours Work for Kids
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
This U.S. government study that looks at the potential of after-school programs, what works, and how communities can meet the need for after-school activities.
School-Based Drug Prevention: What Kind of Drug Use Does it Prevent?
Jonathan P. Caulkins, Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, Susan M. Paddock, James Chiesa
In this study published by the RAND Corporation, the authors examine the social benefits of school-based drug prevention programs. A Tribe Apart: A Journey into the Heart of American Adolescence
Patricia Hersch
Journalist Patricia Hersch takes an up-close-and-personal look at what it means to be a teen in today's American high schools. Hersch asserts that the majority of teens in America today have too much piled on their plates. Having been left to their own devices by a preoccupied, hands-off generation of parents, adolescents have had to devise their own system of ethics, morals, and values. Zero Tolerance for Zero Tolerance
Richard L. Curwin and Allen N. Mendler
An international organization for professional educators, Phi Delta Kappa, questions zero tolerance policies found in schools.
Video Resources
Safety First Materials  Safety First - The Workshop
This DVD offers parents an example of how to conduct their own Safety First workshops within their own PTA, community, or family meetings. The 40-minute DVD includes a brief introduction, a workshop Marsha Rosenbaum conducted in Salt Lake City, and Let’s Talk a previously available video in which a diverse group of teens describe how they came to distrust anti-drug messages prevalent in current drug education efforts. [Order]  UpFront: A Reality-Based Approach to Drug Education
This 11-minute DVD showcases the Student Assistance Program in Oakland High School run by UpFront program founder, Chuck Ries. As a companion to our publication Beyond Zero Tolerance: A Reality-Based Approach to Drug Education and School Discipline this video brings to life the Safety First approach to school-based drug education in secondary schools. [Order]  DVD: Just4Teens
Are you an educator or counselor who wants to have a real discussion with teens about drugs but aren’t sure where to begin? Just4Teens is a great tool to use in classrooms or youth groups to initiate an honest and open conversation with young people about the realities of drugs in their lives. The DVD includes a 15 minute video for youth, a bonus section of five experts for adults, and a 14-page Facilitator’s Guide. The Guide includes discussion questions for use directly after viewing the video, as well as related activities and resources for a more in-depth study of drugs, including alcohol. [Order]
Other Materials  BUSTED: The Citizens Guide to Surviving Police Encounters
Created by Flex Your Rights and narrated by DPA President Ira Glasser, BUSTED realistically depicts the pressure and confusion of common police encounters. In an entertaining and revealing manner, the video illustrates the right and wrong ways to handle different police encounters and pays special attention to demonstrating how citizens can courteously and confidently refuse police searches. [Order]  Beyond Zero Tolerance: Restorative Practices in Schools
A 27-minute video that explores the impact of restorative practices in school discipline. [Order]
Websites The Drug Policy Alliance
The Drug Policy Alliance is the nation's leading organization working to end the war on drugs and promote new drug policies based on science, compassion, health, and human rights. 11th Biennial California Student Survey
The California Student Survey is a mandated statewide project, conducted every two years since 1985. It presents a snapshot of California students' risky and health-related behaviors including drug, alcohol, and tobacco use, resilience, and perception of school violence. The Drug Guy
This Blog and Podcast for students discusses underage drinking, teen drug use, human development (sex) and adolescent health. Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC)
The Safety First Project is a member of the Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC) a coalition of advocates, educators, organizers, and lawyers from across the country united to reframe the debate around school discipline from one that aims to punish and exclude young people from school, to a human rights perspective that respects youth’s right to an education, and advocates for dignified reform to keep young people in school. National Survey on Drug Use & Health: National Results
This annual survey is sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). It includes information on the use of illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco in the civilian, non-institutionalized population of the United States aged 12 years old or older. Monitoring the Future Survey Results
Monitoring the Future is an ongoing study of the behaviors, attitudes, and values of American secondary school students, college students, and young adults. BEST Coalition for a Safe and Drug-Free Nevada
The BEST (Bringing Everyone's Strengths Together) Coalition is a non-profit organization working to promote a safe and healthy lifestyle for Nevadans. A strong supporter of the Safety First Project, the organization distributes our print materials to its constituents. DanceSafe
DanceSafe is a nonprofit, harm reduction organization promoting health and safety within the rave and nightclub community. Erowid
Erowid is a member-supported organization providing access to reliable, non-judgmental information about psychoactive plants and chemicals and related issues. From Grief to Action
From Grief to Action is a non-profit organization based in Canada that produces a Coping Kit containing tips for identifying signs of drug use, strategies for meeting day-to-day challenges, and answers to a variety of questions about drugs and addiction. It also includes contact numbers for further information and resources. Health, United States
Health, United States is an annual report on trends in health statistics produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Talk to Frank
This is a project of the British government encouraging parents and teens to talk about drug use. Their motto is, "Drugs are illegal. Talking about them isn't."
| 
