- 5 months ago
A two-part examination of America's War on Drugs. Part 2 looks into the effectiveness of anti-drug efforts in schools.
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00:00Funding for Frontline is provided by this station and other public television stations nationwide,
00:07and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
00:12Tonight, on Frontline, the national crusade to keep kids away from drugs and alcohol.
00:19We are aware, we do know what goes on, and we're not going to sit with our head in the sands and say,
00:25gee, I wish this would go away.
00:27From elementary school to high school, can drug use be prevented?
00:32The more they tell us not to do it, the more we're going to do it.
00:35And how many kids really use drugs?
00:38There are even some kids in my school that get great grades when they do cocaine.
00:42Tonight, Stopping Drugs, Part 2.
00:53From the network of public television stations,
00:56a presentation of KCTS Seattle, WNET New York, WPBT Miami, WTVS Detroit, and WGBH Boston.
01:07This is Frontline with Judy Woodruff.
01:14Good evening.
01:15Tonight, on Frontline, the second in our two-part special, Stopping Drugs.
01:20Last week, we witnessed the personal challenge of kicking drugs.
01:25Tonight, we explore the challenge of keeping our children off them.
01:29As a nation, we are spending over a quarter of a billion dollars on drug education and prevention.
01:36Are we getting our money's worth?
01:38Frontline producer Andrew Liebman set out to answer that question last fall after President Reagan declared war on drugs.
01:47Here is his report.
01:54The House come to order, please.
01:56We all know why we're here.
01:58It's time to declare an all-out war, to mobilize our forces, public and private, national and local, in a total coordinated assault upon this menace, which is draining our economy of some $230 billion.
02:16The war on drugs, in 1986, America's number one concern.
02:23In an election year, the enemy is everywhere.
02:25The familiar images of the war fill television screens and magazines.
02:31The traditional strategy for stopping drug use, intercepting drugs before they reach the customer, is escalated by Congress.
02:38Nearly a billion dollars for extra law enforcement and the destruction of drug crops at their source.
02:45Then, amid a growing perception that the war is being lost, despite escalating the battle against drug suppliers, a new strategy, one aimed now at drug users.
02:56All the confiscation and law enforcement of the world will not cure this plague as long as it is kept alive by public acquiescence.
03:05So we must now go beyond efforts aimed only at affecting the supply of drugs.
03:09We must affect not only supply, but demand.
03:13I believe we've come to a time when the American people are willing to make it clear that illegal drug and alcohol use will no longer be tolerated.
03:22So, starting today, Nancy's crusade to deprive the drug peddlers and suppliers of their customers becomes America's crusade.
03:31America's new crusade was born not in the White House, but in communities like this, East Greenwich, Rhode Island.
03:40And it's here at a high school dance that Frontline begins its report on how the crusade is being fought.
03:46East Greenwich is white, wealthy, suburban.
03:53Here, as in similar communities across the country, the most popular drug isn't cocaine or marijuana, but alcohol.
04:01Nationwide, cocaine is only used often by 1 in 250 high school seniors.
04:10Marijuana by 1 in 20.
04:13Alcohol, which can be as destructive as cocaine, gets 50% of high school seniors drunk every other week.
04:20But it's preventing the use of all drugs, including alcohol, that's the goal of the new crusade.
04:34Gillette Hunt is one of the leaders of the crusade.
04:37The mother of two teenage children, she's here to help enforce a get-tough policy on students using drugs and drinking.
04:44Are you looking for someone?
04:46Hi.
04:47Okay.
04:48Once you're out and the dancer, have a bit at the dance and you can't come in.
04:51We are aware, we do know what goes on, and we're not going to sit with our head in the sands and say,
04:56gee, I wish this would go away.
04:58We're going to act on it and be responsible for ourselves and for our own kids.
05:02While the students dance, East Greenwich police, the school principal, and the town drug counselor inspect their cars outside,
05:11looking for signs of drugs and alcohol.
05:14There's a couple of cores.
05:16They're crazy.
05:17Cars are going to go home no matter what.
05:19Uh-oh.
05:20It's 26.
05:21Now it's at the milk box.
05:22Well, we're just going to get back to you.
05:24The policy was promoted by a parent's group Gillette Hunt belongs to, East Greenwich citizens who care.
05:30Is it a can?
05:31It's a can.
05:32Yeah.
05:33It's a can.
05:34Yeah.
05:35Diet Pepsi is the same way, though.
05:38Well, we know that, but it's a problem for us.
05:40Yeah, I'm just saying.
05:41Yeah, you have to...
05:42In the back seat of the car, he found the plastic that holds together a six-pack of beer,
05:47and he can see the shape of the six-pack in that backpack in the front seat.
05:50So that's probable cause for him to check this car when it leaves.
05:53Well, there's about this much of it in the...
05:56They've got that.
05:57They probably have more on them anyway.
05:58That's all you need.
06:00That's definitely a roach.
06:01Yeah.
06:02No question about it.
06:03I hate to say that.
06:04We'll stop the car when somebody gets in and moves it, and then check it out.
06:08Just go in the ashtray and make sure that's what it is, and then you'll arrest them.
06:13By night's end, ten students will be arrested.
06:16A victory for East Greenwich citizens who care, and its policy of vigilance.
06:23I was chaperoning a dance at the high school, and I watched a parent drive up to the high school, drop off about five kids.
06:30I think there were three girls and a couple of boys, and I watched the kids walk right up to the high school.
06:36The parent pulled away, and the kids kept right on going.
06:39And I don't know where they went.
06:40They never came into the dance, and I really...
06:42For Citizens Who Care, which is trying to organize the whole community around the drug issue, getting parents to support searching cars is easy.
06:50But it's harder to convince parents to be firm about their children's drinking at home, in part because of ambivalence about whether alcohol is the same as other drugs.
06:59I mean, are we going to sit here and I'll say that no one should be drinking ever, forever?
07:04It should be outlawed, and you know, we also have to teach the kids to use if they're going to enjoy it sometime.
07:11I'm not saying that 12 and 14 is the time to do that, but...
07:14Let's say that your son comes home and tells you that he really wonders what it would be like to rob a store.
07:20Are you going to give him a gun, send him off down to the local grocery market?
07:25But that's not something that's ever going to be legal for him.
07:29Well, no, but wait a minute.
07:30We're talking about right now, 14.
07:32It is not legal for him now.
07:33It is breaking a law.
07:34It's the same thing.
07:35I'm not saying at 21 it won't be legal.
07:37I'm just saying right now.
07:41Gillette Hunt and the 60 families of Citizens Who Care are taking steps to make sure any parties their children attend are properly supervised to prevent drinking and drug use.
07:54If my daughter were to tell me that she were going to Jane's house for a party, they were going to be there from 7 to 11, I would say fine.
08:03The next step is I would call Jane's house, chat with her mom, make sure her mother was going to be there.
08:09Point blank.
08:10I would ask, are you or your husband going to be around during the party?
08:13Not surprisingly, many of the students at East Greenwich High find flaws in parents' plans to monitor their whereabouts.
08:20Nicole Anderson.
08:21I think it will make kids not say where they're going.
08:24And they'll go someplace, where are you going?
08:26I'm going to the movies, then out to dinner, and then that gives you up until 12 o'clock to have a party.
08:31So, I mean, it may work for some kids that say, all right, I'm going to so-and-so's house and their parents will call.
08:36But I think it would make more kids go away from telling the truth to their parents.
08:41When you were a kid, didn't your mother ever tell you not to do something, then you turned around and went and did it?
08:45The more they tell us not to do it, the more we're going to do it.
08:49The traditional opportunity for unsupervised parties is when parents go out of town.
08:55To block this teenage tactic, Citizens Who Care has worked out an unusual procedure with the local police.
09:02All right, Judy. How long are you going to be going away?
09:05We're going to be gone for a week, and I will be leaving my son home.
09:10How old is your son?
09:11He's 16.
09:1216.
09:13Yes.
09:14And he understands that you've given us permission to enter the home.
09:18Yes, I explained to him that I do trust him that he will not have a party.
09:23However, when friends find out the parents are away, I know for a fact that they are going to come over.
09:30It's happened quite a few times.
09:31Well, it's happened quite often in our neighborhood.
09:33Before you sign this permission to search form with Marsha, we want to make sure that you understand that you're actually signing away all your rights of search and seizure.
09:46In other words, you're going to give the police department a waiver saying that at any time when we feel it's necessary, we can enter your home.
09:56It's just like a search warrant to us.
09:59Mm-hmm.
10:00All right, now you have to sign the top, fill out the address.
10:03So far, 14 families have signed permission to search agreements, and four children were arrested at a raided party.
10:10But the new get tough policy is battling a potent force, the belief of many teenagers that there's nothing wrong with drugs or alcohol.
10:18Nicole Anderson.
10:19The parents in the community think that if you drink, you cannot possibly be a normal kid.
10:26I drink.
10:27I drink.
10:28I drink often.
10:29I get good grades.
10:30I'm vice president of my class.
10:32I'm an editor of my high school yearbook.
10:35I'm on student council.
10:38And I can't see how the parents think.
10:41If I drink, I'm bad.
10:44I'm college bound.
10:46I want to go to a good school.
10:48I have a career in mind.
10:50I don't think because I drink is going to get in my way of any of it.
10:55A lot of my friends drink, and they're the same thing.
10:58They all can have good standing in school and do drugs.
11:05There are even some kids in my school that get great grades, and they do cocaine.
11:10And how can you say that everyone's bad?
11:13Because, no, it's wrong.
11:15They're wrong.
11:18For Gillette Hunt, this acceptance by today's teenagers that drug use is normal is the real enemy.
11:25When I was growing up, in my class, in my group of friends, there was one young man that I know of that drank.
11:32And that was it.
11:36The normal way of life was to be drug free.
11:40Over the past 20-some years, this has changed completely.
11:45Where the normal way of life is to be the drinker or the user of drugs.
11:50Right now, the atmosphere is such that if you are drug free, you're odd.
11:55You're weird.
11:56You're on the outside.
11:57And I think what our intent and our goal is really is to turn all of that around so that by the time kids get to high school,
12:04the person who is drinking and using drugs is the person who is abnormal and weird.
12:10Turning around what's abnormal and weird is complicated by over a decade of popular culture
12:15that has portrayed student drinking as not just normal but an essential rite of passage and acceptance,
12:21as in John Belushi's 1978 movie Animal House.
12:25Grab a brew.
12:26Yes?
12:27Don't cost nothing.
12:32More recently, the film The Breakfast Club showed a group of students who could get along with each other
12:37and have fun only after smoking marijuana.
12:52These images have reflected and reinforced the notion that drug experimentation is a valuable, even necessary, part of growing up.
13:01Most people, they can't do things that they can when they're sober so they get drunk to do it.
13:07Alcohol goes with parties so you can loosen up and meet new people and you won't feel embarrassed.
13:16I can handle it maybe 25% of the time.
13:2075% of the time after that, if I'm going to go out to drink, I'm going to go out to get smashed.
13:25And that's all it is.
13:27As in any community, there are teenagers in East Greenwich whose instincts are to reject drug and alcohol use.
13:34But in a culture where drinking is the norm, kids often find it hard to resist the pressures to go along.
13:41These teenagers have formed a group to help them resist the pressure.
13:46There's a lot of pressure, I think, because these people who do drugs and alcohol, they think,
13:55oh, well, this person doesn't do this kind of thing, so he's probably really weird or whatever.
14:01Like, if everyone rejected you, you wouldn't have any feeling.
14:06You would just feel lost.
14:08And then I think that you might turn saying, well, I really need friends.
14:13Because friends, you do need friends.
14:16And so I think they might, if you didn't have anyone, I think you might turn to drugs just to be accepted or something.
14:22Being in a group, just, you know, you look around and you see these are my friends and they don't do this either.
14:29And I don't have to go alone to a party and feel totally out of place because I know that three of my other friends are going to be there.
14:37And they're not, you know, together we won't feel out of place.
14:40Our group is SOTA, Students Opposed to Drug and Alcohol.
14:43The purpose of this group, I think, this is my personal opinion, is we're trying to say to kids in elementary schools, junior high, and high school,
14:51it's okay not to drink and use drugs.
14:53The question now is deciding how we're going to spend our time.
14:57Gillette Hunt and Citizens Who Care actively support the SOTA group.
15:02Most of SOTA's members are girls, representing about 5% of East Greenwich High's 700 students.
15:09But SOTA and its advisors believe that by sponsoring activities, the group's popularity will grow.
15:15We're going to be having the trash bash, okay?
15:18Trash bash is basically a community effort where a bunch of people are going to get together, go around and cleaning up the community.
15:25The fun run is going to be November 2nd.
15:28It's the following week.
15:29It's on a Sunday.
15:30We're going to have a great hug-in at the high school, okay?
15:34And we're going to have a big banner.
15:36In other words, we'll make arrangements the Sunday before the week we do it.
15:39We'll come over and hang up a big banner that'll have the same logo of the bears.
15:43It'll say, hugs, not drugs.
15:44Then you'll all be armed with buttons.
15:46And the whole idea is that you'll be wearing yours when you start the day, that Monday.
15:51You go out and give somebody a hug.
15:53You give them a button and you give them one more to pass on.
15:57So we'll see how many people can end up hugged by the end of the day and everybody wearing a button.
16:02One, two, three!
16:05Hugs, not drugs!
16:07No!
16:08No!
16:09No!
16:10No!
16:11No!
16:12No!
16:13No!
16:14No!
16:15No!
16:16No!
16:17No!
16:18No!
16:19No!
16:20No!
16:21No!
16:22No!
16:23No!
16:24No!
16:25No!
16:26No!
16:27No!
16:28The buttons and the hugs prove popular.
16:31Soda gets better known.
16:32Whether it's changing kids' attitudes is another question.
16:36Oh, my God!
16:38It may influence some people, but, I mean, if they don't want to do drugs, that's their decision.
16:49I don't think they should be trying to make other people's decisions for them.
16:53We don't go around and say, let's do drugs.
16:54We don't force our ideas of doing drinking and drugs.
16:57I have a kid that says, no drugs, no hugs.
16:59Yeah, we don't run.
17:00So why should they tell us not to do something?
17:02Do drugs.
17:03I don't think that's right.
17:04All those groups against drug abuse and alcohol abuse are sitting there talking about
17:09how other people, the drug users and the alcohol, the drinkers, are pressuring people
17:17that don't do it to do it.
17:19But, actually, it's them that are pressuring us.
17:23I feel like the other students, let's say, who are part of the party crowd, the drinking
17:28crew, are beginning to get a little on edge about that, a little nervous about that, maybe
17:34beginning to feel self-conscious, because now they're just as, perhaps as many people
17:39thinking you can have a good time in being drug-free and being part of those activities
17:44as perhaps in the past where there were kids who mostly drank and went to those types of parties
17:49where no parents were home.
17:50And so, as they begin to feel a little threatened, these kids who are the partiers and the drinkers
17:55by the kids who are not using drugs, it creates a little bit of tension.
18:01The battle for the hearts and minds of the students at East Greenwich High is a crucial
18:06one in the new crusade against drug and alcohol use.
18:10It represents a conscious attempt to return the community to the values of an earlier age.
18:16And in this attempt, Gillette Hunt and East Greenwich Citizens Who Care are part of a national
18:21movement, the National Federation of Parents for Drug-Free Youth.
18:26The Federation and two similar organizations were influential in getting Congress to allocate
18:31$250 million a year for extra drug prevention and education efforts.
18:36And Nancy Reagan has been influential in directing some of this federal money to the activist parent
18:41groups represented here.
18:43As leaders in our efforts, you're the beacon for all the parents everywhere, showing them
18:51they can save their children.
18:54You are the symbol of help and hope.
18:57And you can't let up now.
19:00It's essential that you set the tone for other parents by creating an intolerant attitude
19:06about drugs in this country.
19:08And it's essential that you push the issue to the point of making people very, very uncomfortable.
19:15This activist stance reflects the views of the Parents Federation and is evidence of
19:20the close ties between the parent movement and the government's drug prevention strategy.
19:25In fact, a former board member of the Parents Federation now heads the government super
19:30agency that controls all drug and alcohol abuse funds.
19:33Pediatrician Dr. Ian McDonald.
19:36I think that the parent movement and Nancy Reagan's involvement and her saying things
19:41like, unless you have an actively hostile position against drug use, you should give
19:46tacit approval.
19:47That's important.
19:48What that basically says is that as a society, I don't think we can afford to take a neutral
19:52position.
19:53We're either for drug use or we're against it.
19:57Today, much of the media is clearly against it.
20:00No.
20:01Cherry?
20:02No.
20:03No.
20:04Boy, we're wimps.
20:06We're not wimps.
20:07Wimps do anything...
20:08In a recent episode of NBC's Punky Brewster, Punky and her sidekick are pressured to try
20:14drugs to join an older girls' club.
20:17Instead, Punky announces they'll form a club of their own.
20:20It's called the Just Say No Club.
20:22Just Say No Club.
20:23Hey.
20:24Your club sounds fun.
20:25How do I join?
20:26It's easy, Kate.
20:27All you have to do is just say no.
20:31You don't have to be part of the crowd.
20:35Just be who you are.
20:36This story on Just Say No Clubs was the idea of the nine-year-old who plays Punky.
20:41But the clubs themselves are an important part of the federal prevention strategy.
20:45Just Say No.
20:46Following this broadcast, thousands of school children wrote to find out how to form their
20:51own clubs.
20:52Just be who you are.
20:54Today, there are reportedly 15,000 Just Say No Clubs across America.
20:59Just Say No!
21:00Just Say No!
21:01Just Say No!
21:02The theory behind these clubs is that children under age 10 or 11 are naturally anti-drug,
21:07a drug, and that reinforcing this attitude may be easier than trying to stop children
21:12who've already experimented with drugs or alcohol.
21:15Just Say No!
21:16Just Say No!
21:17Today, millions of federal prevention dollars are supporting the Just Say No concept, paying
21:22for this rock video, for instance.
21:24Just Say No!
21:25Just Say No!
21:28Just Say No! aims at stopping any drug experimentation, on the grounds that the surest way to prevent
21:34anyone from abusing drugs is to prevent everybody from using.
21:39Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Dr. Robert Schuster.
21:43We're often asked whether or not experimental use of drugs is not just a natural part of
21:49growing up.
21:50Kids are obviously inquisitive, they like to try new things, they like to have new experiences,
21:55and so forth.
21:56And after all, you know, they do a variety of things.
21:59They ski, they take risks in a variety of ways.
22:02Why not drugs?
22:04Well, the answer for me is very simple, and that is that, first of all, a certain percentage
22:09of the kids who initiate drug use are going to go on to compulsive use and addicted use
22:15of those drugs.
22:16Their lives will be seriously, if not permanently, affected by this.
22:21And we can't predict, at this point, with great accuracy, which of those kids it's going
22:27to be.
22:28So it's a game of Russian roulette, if you start initiating experimental drug use, you
22:33don't know whether you're going to be one of the people that can handle it, or you're
22:35going to be able to walk away from it, or whether you're going to find the experience
22:38so overwhelming that you want to just repeat it and repeat it and repeat it.
22:43Though it's at the heart of the just-say-no approach, this argument is a hard one to sell to children.
22:50Determined to try is retired businessman Otto Moulton.
22:54I think one of the greatest things that's happened in this company in the last year is
22:57the say-no clubs.
22:59Now, that's wonderful, but we've got to also give them the reasons why just to say no to drug use.
23:06And the key, in my opinion, is good education.
23:11Moulton once coached Little League, and saw kids lose interest when they started smoking
23:16marijuana.
23:17He decided to give up his business, and now goes from school to school, helping kids understand
23:22why drugs can hook you.
23:24All right, now, I want to tell you, the day one problem associated, really, with all psychoactive
23:30drugs, okay, is that they cause chemical imbalances in the brain.
23:36And if you mess with your brains, your brains are going to get even with you.
23:39Would you agree with that?
23:40I think that makes sense.
23:42Now, I'm going to draw on the blackboard only to demonstrate to you, okay?
23:47Now, we have a neocortex, we have a core brain, and we have a limbic system.
23:51Now, in the limbic system, there's an area called the septum, and the septum is the pleasure
23:57center.
23:58How many of you like chocolate cake and ice cream?
24:00Raise your hand.
24:01Now, I like chocolate cake and ice cream, and how can you tell I like chocolate cake
24:04and ice cream?
24:06Yeah, too big, right?
24:07And I've got to do something about that.
24:09Truth.
24:10When we eat chocolate cake and ice cream, or when we do something that makes us feel good,
24:16the messages are coming from that area of the brain, all right?
24:20Now, what happens to people that get into drugs in the beginning?
24:24What do you think happens?
24:25It sends a message to your pleasure center, and it goes off.
24:31That's exactly right.
24:32You know, a few years ago, there was a very famous comedian that unfortunately, he died
24:36of an overdose of what they call a speedball.
24:39That's a combination of heroin and cocaine.
24:42And you see, Mr. Bellucci, what happened to him is that he kept hitting his reward system,
24:48or his pleasure center, with drugs to the point where the drugs took over, took over his
24:54personality.
24:55Where all, and this is usually what happens to these people, that drugs are the only thing
24:59that they want to do.
25:00They get disinterested in almost everything else.
25:03Okay, what's the answer to the drugs?
25:07No!
25:08Or just say no.
25:11Thank you, Gordon.
25:13But telling kids why to say no still may not be enough.
25:18So in this Seattle school, children are taught how to say no, how to resist pressure from their peers.
25:24Here's my friend, Missy.
25:25She's going to ask me to do something that could get me in trouble.
25:28I'm going to think out loud while we're doing it for you, so you know exactly where we're
25:32at.
25:33Hey Nancy, after school, do you want to meet me out behind the portable?
25:36Oh, you know, sometimes when Missy asks me to meet her behind the portable, it's no big
25:40deal.
25:41But sometimes Missy asks me to do things that could get me into trouble.
25:44So I'm going to ask her a couple questions.
25:46What do you have in mind, Missy?
25:48I've got these cigarettes that my mom's purse is doing.
25:50Missy, that's smoking.
25:52I'm going to tell her the name of that trouble.
25:54I'm going to go on to step two.
25:55You know, Missy, that's against school rules.
25:58Oh, that's true.
25:59Yeah, that's true.
26:00And I'm going to go right on to step three, and I'm going to tell Missy what could happen
26:03if I get caught.
26:04You know what, Miss?
26:05If we got caught here on school grounds, we'd probably get suspended.
26:09Oh, really?
26:10That'd be a bummer.
26:11Yeah.
26:12So I'm going to go on to step four, and I'm going to tell her something that's an alternative.
26:15Listen, it's recess time.
26:17Let's go play four square.
26:18I'll challenge him.
26:19Want to go?
26:20You can meet me?
26:21Yeah, that's good.
26:22All right.
26:23Okay, how's that look?
26:24Not too bad?
26:25Think you guys can do that?
26:26Yeah.
26:27This five-step formula for resisting peer pressure is based on a technique that's been successful
26:31in preventing cigarette smoking in children.
26:34Hey, I wanted to know if you wanted to go to the store with me.
26:38What are we going to do?
26:39Get some candy.
26:41Do you have any money?
26:42No, we could just take it.
26:44That's shoplifting.
26:46Well, see, my mom has this collection of wine stuff.
26:50Pure resistance formulas have now been widely adopted in school drug prevention programs,
26:55and are being promoted by the new federal office on drug prevention.
26:59But whether they work in helping children say no when friends offer drugs and alcohol is still unclear.
27:05So why don't we just go over and get up a kickball game?
27:09Okay.
27:10Super.
27:11What's happening?
27:12Dr. Robert Shuster.
27:13Okay.
27:14I think the evidence for it is mixed.
27:16I think that there is no question that there is some positive evidence that this can be effective,
27:22but I think we still have a long way to go.
27:25I think the idea is a good one.
27:28Translating that into meaningful action that a child can engage in when their best friend says,
27:34hey, you want to do drugs with me, is a very difficult proposition because that kind of pressure is very strong.
27:41This raises one of the central questions in drug prevention.
27:45Tens of millions of dollars are being spent on a variety of prevention approaches.
27:49This curriculum being packaged in a Seattle warehouse is one of the more elaborate,
27:54involving lessons for kindergarten through 12th grade.
27:57Yet little is known about whether this approach or any of the others, including just say no, actually works.
28:06When it comes to prevention activities, we oftentimes fly by the seat of our pants.
28:11We really don't know whether what we're doing is good, bad, or indifferent.
28:17That it might actually be bad is a lesson learned the hard way.
28:21Hey, kiddies, gather round. The man with the goodies is here.
28:24This public service announcement was made in the early 1970s as part of President Nixon's war on drugs.
28:30Isn't it true that sniffing glue can damage your liver and kidneys?
28:34Cool it, kid. Looky. Amphetamines, bennies, dexes, meth.
28:39They say amphetamines can cause something like schizophrenia.
28:43Over a billion dollars was spent in just a few years to give children straight, factual information on drugs.
28:49I think in the early days of prevention, where we were attempting to simply give children factual information about the drugs.
28:59What is the name of the drug? What actions does it have on the body?
29:03What possible toxic effects does it have? And so forth.
29:07Given that information in sort of a straight scientific sense, it really didn't have an impact on their behavior.
29:16All it did was say, okay, well, you know all these things about drugs.
29:20And in a sense, we almost told them how to avoid the toxicity.
29:23And in fact, we found that it increased people's interest in and their drug use.
29:31So that sort of clinical, scientific approach, without any value judgment about it, really failed.
29:38Backfired on us.
29:40Today, prevention campaigns take the Madison Avenue approach.
29:44Slogans and celebrities, instead of detailed information.
29:47So making drug use unfashionable has become no different from selling merchandise.
29:51At least to the owners of a successful New York clothing company.
29:55The apparel industry is one that dictates to the entire population how wide your tie should be, whether you should wear a wide lapel or a narrow lapel, whether a woman's skirt should be long or short.
30:07And that gave us the impetus to decide, if we're able to do that as an industry, why can't we talk people out of trying drugs?
30:14You're going to lie, you're going to cheat, you're going to steal, you're going to do anything you have to.
30:19That's what cocaine does to you.
30:22Then scratch out this and say, I know, that's what it did to me.
30:27Country and western singer Larry Gatlin, an ex-addict, is about to make a television commercial for members only, warning people not to make the same mistake he did in using cocaine.
30:37The company is paying for the commercial in response to President Reagan's call for individuals and business to enlist in the crusade against drugs.
30:45It's a way of us paying back to the public the success that they gave to us.
30:51And we feel that we owe them something, and in our very small way, we feel very positive and excited about it.
30:58You get up in the morning, you look in the mirror, you just feel a little bit better than you did before we got into this.
31:02It's a terrific feeling.
31:04Members Only is spending its entire television advertising budget for 16 months on a series of anti-drug messages.
31:12Scene 101, sound one, action.
31:15This is for anyone tempted to fool around with cocaine.
31:18Your money's going to run out before your habit does.
31:20Then what?
31:21You're going to lie, you're going to cheat, you're going to steal.
31:24You're going to do whatever you have to.
31:26That's what cocaine does to you.
31:28I know, that's what it did to me.
31:30I was just one guitarist around my way from wrecking my whole life.
31:33I was a real messed up cowboy.
31:35Don't let anyone or anything push you into doing cocaine.
31:39Just say no.
31:41I think we have to be very careful in some of the mass media advertising we do, where we show people who have used drugs and have recovered.
31:55They now look healthy, reasonably wealthy, and they say, well, I was on death's door and now I've recovered.
32:05There's a mixed message there.
32:08For the non-user, it says, well, gee, you know, I could try it and, you know, if I get in trouble, I'll just stop and I'll be like this guy and recover from it.
32:17That's a danger.
32:19But on the other hand, for those people who are currently using drugs, perhaps in an abusive fashion that they're really getting in trouble with them, seeing that person can also act as a model saying, hey, it is possible to get out of what I'm doing.
32:33So we're not clear. I think that for different audiences, it may have different effects.
32:39In the face of this uncertainty about what works and what doesn't, communities across the country continue to experiment with their own drug prevention strategies.
32:52In Linfield, Massachusetts, for instance, a group of high school juniors and seniors, including class presidents, a football star and the cheerleading captain, have been organized by parents who believe it's not enough just to say no.
33:06Oh, let the states go marching in.
33:09Helene Naiman.
33:11We don't believe in preaching to kids, don't do this, don't do that.
33:16What we want the kids to do is make responsible decisions, and I emphasize the word responsible, so that they aren't forced to make a decision based on fear, but a decision would be based, they would make based on self-knowledge.
33:29The student group is called PEP, Peers Educating Peers.
33:35Its members have been chosen because they are among the student leaders in the high school.
33:40Today, they are heading for a retreat session in the country.
33:44Throughout the day, they'll be challenged by a professional counselor to explore and express their feelings.
33:50The day begins with an exercise designed to build trust.
33:57Body's back.
33:59Body's back.
34:01Two, three, go.
34:03Euh, one, go.
34:04See?
34:05Right?
34:06Go.
34:07Put it.
34:08Go.
34:09triumph spray petit piece Oh that's good.
34:10Come down it here.
34:12We're gonna do a real simple exercise.
34:14All we're gonna do is go from one person to the next and look right in their eye and say, NO.
34:23That's it. Just no, right in the eye. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
34:53No, no.
35:05Okay, we'll stop it right here.
35:08What do you find about that girl?
35:24I mean, I say no to, like, Trisha and Casey. I can't say no to them. Look at my friend.
35:32You say no to yourself. You can't say it to other people. You can't come out and say no.
35:42No.
35:43Why not?
35:46I don't know. I just take it.
35:52You say no and you wonder what they're going to think, what people are going to think, and you don't want to even risk it.
36:00I'm afraid of, if I say no, I can't be specific, but if I say no, I'm going to lose something. I'm going to lose what I have with that person. You know what I mean?
36:12Yeah.
36:12And that's, like, my biggest fear.
36:15Okay.
36:17I think that's pretty common. I really do.
36:24We're afraid we're not going to be liked. We want to be liked. Let's all say it. I want to be liked. Let's hear it. Say it.
36:30I want to be liked.
36:32Say it again.
36:32I want to be liked.
36:34Say it again. Say it louder.
36:36I want to be liked.
36:37It's damn right.
36:39I think the more honest sharing of feelings that children and adolescents have an opportunity to do, the less they will abuse drugs.
36:49How soon after your mother's death did your father remarry?
36:53Like, two years after.
36:55So pretty soon?
36:56Yeah. And I was the little brat who resented her.
37:00I feel like I just am keeping a low profile.
37:02A major aim of the session is to get students to talk openly about what troubles them.
37:08She'll wake me up in the morning and say, get up and do laundry.
37:12And it's like, I just do it. I'm a robot. I just get up and do it.
37:17And I don't, like, say. Like, so many times I would just feel like saying, couldn't you say hello?
37:22Hello.
37:26Okay. Yeah.
37:29Yeah. Away a little. Okay.
37:32I think that, you know, releasing your feelings is a really good form of prevention.
37:41Because why would you want to start drinking if you, I mean, when you think of alcohol or drugs,
37:50when you think of an alcoholic, you think of someone who's trying to escape their life, whatever's going on in their life,
37:56any little problem, and then as their, you know, their disease develops, it's anything, you know,
38:02anything they need to escape, they do by alcohol.
38:04So if you don't have to escape anything,
38:09if you know that you like yourself and you know that your body's clean of, you know,
38:15bad feelings or bad, you know, bad emotions,
38:18then you're not going to have to escape.
38:21You don't have anything to run away from.
38:26Besides learning to express themselves,
38:28PEP members also learn how to counsel others to help peers share their feelings.
38:33Today, PEP is visiting with 8th graders in the middle school.
38:49I wouldn't walk away.
38:50I would just stay there and, like, get in a fight with the kid.
38:53Once you really learn to know yourself and learn to like yourself,
38:57you don't, you feel like you don't have to do that stuff.
38:59You know what I mean?
39:00You'll be satisfied with how you feel.
39:04As with the other prevention strategies,
39:06it's not clear what influence PEP will have.
39:09Many of the PEP counselors have had their own experiences with drugs or alcohol
39:13and, like most of society, make a distinction between using responsibly and abusing.
39:19I think that it's okay for people to drink when they can shut themselves off,
39:25when they don't, you know, when they know that
39:26once they're getting their effective buzz or whatever, then they can stop.
39:31But I don't think people should drink if they're not going to be able to know when to stop.
39:35And marijuana, I think, is the same.
39:38A couple beers, you know, once in a while,
39:42everybody has a couple beers once in a while, is all right.
39:44Because, you know, it's just, you know, sometimes it makes a person feel good just to have a couple beers.
39:50But when you're drinking, like, every night or you're drinking,
39:53if you get drunk, like, every weekend, I think that's,
39:56or you get, like, a couple nights a week, and I think that's abusing.
40:00I've seen too many people make fools out of themselves and hurt themselves to stand it.
40:07And I think if pep could teach kids that you don't have to do that to be popular
40:12or to have someone like you, that's what I'd like to see done.
40:16Some people get a good feeling out of having it be Monday morning
40:21and people saying, oh, you're pretty trash Friday night.
40:25Some people like that, but in the back of their mind, they must be thinking,
40:29I really made a jerk out of myself, you know?
40:32Pep members don't pass on a message that responsible use is okay,
40:36but neither do they say never use,
40:38which is perhaps why pep is more popular than the East Greenwich Soda Group.
40:42The parents who set up pep would prefer their children not to use at all,
40:46but are more concerned with preventing occasional use from sliding into addiction.
40:50This less-than-hard-line approach, however, isn't favored by federal officials.
40:55Back in the 1970s, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, of which I'm the director,
41:01actually talked about responsible drug use.
41:04They talked about teaching people to use drugs in a responsible fashion.
41:09I think that was a mistake,
41:11because if we accept responsible drug use
41:16and only talk about drug abuse,
41:19that is where people are using too much of the drug
41:21or at a high enough dosage that they're getting into trouble with it,
41:24we open ourselves up to a use of the drugs
41:29by millions, if not hundreds of millions of people in the population,
41:33and we can't control that.
41:35The president uses the word zero-tolerance for drugs,
41:38and by that he means that this little bit of drug use...
41:42We argued with a number of words for the last 25 years.
41:45We talked about things like responsible use of drugs,
41:49which meant a little bit was okay long as you didn't run into trouble.
41:52We talked about mild drugs and hard drugs,
41:54as if these drugs wouldn't really cause you great difficulty.
41:57We talked about victimless crime,
41:59like somebody who uses drugs as long as he keeps it to himself,
42:03as if that were possible, doesn't cause problems.
42:06I think what we realize now is that our society,
42:09and our society is in the president's words,
42:11the workplace and the schools is infected with this plague of the 1980s.
42:15And the only way to eliminate it is to eliminate all the carriers' use.
42:20I mean, we're not trying to eliminate people.
42:22There's no middle ground.
42:24Indifference is not an option.
42:27For the sake of our children,
42:28I implore each of you to be even more unyielding and inflexible
42:33as you continue your crusade against drugs.
42:36And so the federally approved crusade against drugs
42:42continues to focus on creating public intolerance toward drug use
42:46as the only sure path to prevention.
42:49But at the University of Washington in Seattle,
42:53drug prevention researchers are concerned
42:55that this approach misses the root causes of abuse.
42:59David Hawkins.
43:00The point is that if you just try to deal with drug abuse
43:03as an isolated phenomenon, you know, we're just stamping out drug abuse,
43:07you're going to miss the fact that it's related to lots of other problems
43:11that a number of young people have.
43:14You've got to look at the whole picture.
43:17What goes wrong as young people develop
43:19to lead some children into antisocial behaviors
43:23that cost themselves, their families, and society incredibly?
43:27Looking at the whole picture of why some children get into trouble with drugs
43:32is what Hawkins and his colleague Richard Catalano
43:34have been attempting to do.
43:37They've compared the histories of people who became drug and alcohol abusers
43:41with the histories of people who didn't,
43:44looking for common threads in their lives
43:46which might explain the difference.
43:49Their research included interviews with young drug abusers getting treatment.
43:52Can you talk a little bit about what it was like growing up for you?
43:56What was life like at home?
43:59It was pretty painful.
44:01What emerged was a picture of things going wrong in children's lives
44:05that were often beyond the control of the children themselves.
44:08My daddy used to drink off and on
44:10and you could kind of say he was an alcoholic
44:14and my dad would go out and get drunk
44:18and he'd come home and start yelling at us.
44:22He'd find something to yell at us for
44:24and things got thrown around the house.
44:29Having a parent who abused drugs or alcohol
44:32or not having clear family rules prohibiting drugs and alcohol
44:35seemed to put kids at high risk for becoming abusers.
44:39So did failing in elementary school.
44:41The whole year he just kept giving me F's on all my report cards, you know.
44:46I mean, I did most of the work before he started acting this way,
44:49you know, all the time.
44:51And every quarter he gave me F's
44:53and I had 56 F's the whole year.
44:5556 F's?
44:56Yeah, he put a big red F on the front of the report card, last one.
45:01How did that make you feel?
45:03The question is whether children with life histories like these
45:06will in any way be helped by approaches like Just Say No.
45:10I think these broad, widespread efforts to change the social norms and values
45:16about alcohol use or about drug use
45:18will probably have some beneficial effects
45:20on reducing casual drug use among a broad range of students.
45:26I'm not sure that they will affect those children who are at the highest risk of drug abuse very much.
45:34Because if you look at children who have high rates of school failure,
45:39high rates of antisocial behavior, don't care about school,
45:42alienated from family and school, etc.,
45:45those children are not always so responsive to what President Reagan has to say.
45:50Or if you're starting a Just Say No club in their school,
45:53it's not clear to me that they will sign up and join the Just Say No club.
45:58It's too late now for these young drug abusers to be helped by any prevention strategy.
46:04But what if their childhoods could have been different?
46:06In 18 Seattle elementary schools,
46:10an experiment's going on to see if it's possible to prevent certain problems at school and home,
46:16and if so, whether that reduces drug abuse.
46:19The experiment will last 12 years and cost $2 million.
46:24Half the experiment concerns teachers,
46:26retraining them to teach in ways that involve even the kids who usually don't do well in class.
46:31In this 5th grade class, for instance,
46:37the teacher is trying to get every child to participate actively in the lesson.
46:41Go, number one, everyone.
46:42Camel.
46:43Camel.
46:44Go.
46:45Omnivore.
46:46Go.
46:47Persevore.
46:47Go.
46:48Carnivore.
46:49Go.
46:50Hypergate.
46:51And what is it?
46:52Predators.
46:53And?
46:53Crane.
46:54Okay.
46:55Point time.
46:56The teacher has also organized her class into groups,
47:00mixed to include fast and slow learners,
47:03the misfits,
47:04and the well-behaved.
47:05Tomorrow afternoon,
47:07Miss Lindsay and I will have figured out
47:09which group
47:11has earned the greatest number of points this week.
47:15Dynamite ending.
47:17Friday morning,
47:18Polaroid picture of your group.
47:21Your group alone
47:22displayed downstairs beside the office door.
47:25All right.
47:27Go to work with your group.
47:28Let's roll it.
47:29When the children work as a team,
47:31the group gets only one grade,
47:33so everyone must help each other.
47:34Wait.
47:36Number five, is it wrong?
47:37Oh, me.
47:38Oh, erase that.
47:39Predators.
47:40The hope is that all students will learn better.
47:43Predators during the winter.
47:45And that the well-behaved kids
47:47will have a strong social influence on the troublemakers.
47:51The children in these experimental classrooms
47:53will be followed through high school
47:55to compare their rate of drug abuse
47:57with children taught in conventional classrooms.
48:01But the experiment isn't just retraining teachers.
48:04Parents also have to go back to school.
48:07What does it mean as they become adolescents?
48:09It means they become more independent.
48:11They begin to think even more for themselves.
48:13They want to stand on their own two feet.
48:15They want to make sure that we know
48:16they're different from them,
48:17that they're their own people.
48:18In a series of seminars,
48:21Hawkins is trying to change the way
48:23parents raise their children.
48:25He started five years ago
48:26teaching these parents how to reward
48:28and punish their seven-year-olds.
48:31Now that the children are entering their teens,
48:33Hawkins is helping the parents deal directly
48:35with the issue of drug experimentation.
48:38I'd like to ask you to talk with your neighbor
48:41at your table about your own views about this issue,
48:44teenagers and alcohol and other drugs.
48:46What do you think is right for kids to do?
48:50It's a child's decision.
48:51You can tell them,
48:52this is what I would like
48:53or this is what I expect
48:54and this is what will happen if you do.
48:57But it is, it's going to be their decision.
49:00I would explain it to my daughter
49:01after that she wouldn't be able to be
49:03that famous track player
49:05that she wants to be one day
49:07if she started using alcohol.
49:09It's probably the toughest job we have
49:10raising children.
49:12And yet, nowhere are we trained to do this.
49:15And so, the skills that I picked up
49:18from my parents are great,
49:19but they might not help me
49:20in dealing with possibility of drug abuse
49:23in my family
49:23because that wasn't such a big issue
49:25a few generations ago.
49:27And so, I think,
49:29although we'd like to assume
49:30that parents all know how to do it,
49:32the evidence is that
49:33we can all learn to do a better job
49:35at parenting.
49:37Think about this now.
49:38Now, we're adults.
49:43Some of us smoke.
49:46Some of us drink alcohol.
49:48Some of us may even use other substances, okay?
49:53Do we, as parents, have a right
49:55to have a different set of expectations
49:56for ourselves and for our children?
49:59What do people think?
50:00I feel that when you say
50:02kids can't and you can,
50:05it gives an impression that,
50:07oh, I can't wait till I get 21
50:08because I can drink.
50:09And so, I feel that it should be
50:11something that no one can do.
50:14Are you willing to live with that?
50:16I'm willing to try very hard.
50:19My wife and I do enjoy
50:21an occasional glass of wine.
50:23Now, we don't get drunk.
50:25We don't drink
50:26when we drive at all.
50:29But I think
50:30if you have
50:31mature enough children,
50:34the likelihood of them
50:36abusing later on
50:37is greater
50:38if they have seen
50:39their parents for years
50:40drink some wine
50:42and never be allowed
50:43to go near this forbidden fruit
50:45than if
50:46in moderation,
50:48I never offer it,
50:49I never tell them
50:50to go to the refrigerator
50:50and get it,
50:51but if they say,
50:52Daddy, can I have a sip?
50:53Mm-hmm, yes.
50:54The most important thing
50:55is that parents feel...
50:57Hawkins' research
50:58shows that most people
50:59who become substance abusers
51:01tried drugs or alcohol
51:02before age 15.
51:04So his aim here
51:05is to persuade parents
51:07of the need
51:07to set firm rules
51:08against early drug experimentation.
51:11I want to give you
51:12some examples
51:13of some rules
51:14that different families
51:15have set,
51:16not because this is what you should...
51:18Hawkins hopes
51:19that if parents
51:20can be taught how
51:21to make and enforce
51:22family rules,
51:23they'll be more comfortable
51:24telling their children no.
51:26This first one says,
51:27we agree,
51:28no alcohol,
51:29no drugs,
51:29no tobacco,
51:30no exceptions.
51:31And the consequences,
51:33if that's violated,
51:34are also clear.
51:35The first time,
51:36you're grounded for a month,
51:37no allowance for three months.
51:38It's very clear.
51:40Frequently,
51:40parents who are particularly
51:41concerned about alcohol
51:42and other drugs say,
51:44look,
51:44if I ever catch you
51:45with drugs,
51:46you're out of this house,
51:46young man.
51:47It's fine to have
51:48that kind of an expectation
51:50if that's what
51:51you really mean.
51:53But what happens
51:54the first time
51:55you find your child
51:55with a can of beer
51:57hidden someplace
51:58or with a pack of cigarettes?
52:00If you don't mean
52:02to follow through
52:02on the consequence,
52:04don't set it.
52:05It will be many years
52:07before Hawkins knows
52:08if trying to change
52:09children's home
52:10and school environments
52:11is actually useful
52:12in preventing
52:13drug and alcohol abuse.
52:15The whole approach
52:15could prove worthless.
52:17Little comfort
52:18for the mothers
52:19and fathers here,
52:20whose children
52:21are about to enter
52:21an age when
52:22drug experimentation
52:23becomes commonplace.
52:25Yet Hawkins believes
52:26research like this
52:27is necessary
52:28because he's convinced
52:30preventing drug abuse
52:31will take much more
52:32than a say-no crusade.
52:34It's important for people
52:36to take an approach
52:38that's based on knowledge.
52:39What do we know
52:40about the problem
52:40and things that add
52:41to the risk
52:42of there being
52:42serious problems
52:43and address those factors.
52:46Not just go off
52:47with our gut reaction
52:48doing something
52:49that we believe
52:50is going to make
52:50a difference
52:51because it's right.
52:52The problem here
52:53is that we do
52:54have a behavior
52:55the abuse of drugs
52:57that can wreak
52:58all kinds of havoc
52:59with lives
53:00that can hurt people
53:02a lot.
53:03it's also a behavior
53:05that's all tied up
53:06with certain people's morality
53:08with ethics
53:09and morals
53:10and right
53:10and wrong
53:11and good
53:11and bad
53:12and everything else
53:13and so
53:13it gets very complicated
53:15and sometimes
53:16people advocate
53:17solutions in this area
53:18that are less based
53:20on what we know
53:20and more based
53:21on just a set
53:22of personal beliefs.
53:23in fact
53:24almost everything
53:25being done
53:26in prevention
53:26today
53:27is based
53:27on personal beliefs
53:29the government
53:31backed crusade
53:32to create
53:32a new attitude
53:33of intolerance
53:34for drugs
53:34and alcohol
53:35conceived
53:36by activist
53:37parent groups
53:38is itself
53:39largely untested
53:40and like
53:41drug prevention
53:42programs
53:42of the past
53:43could have
53:44unintended consequences
53:45the crusade
53:51is in many ways
53:53a new round
53:53in the traditional
53:54battle for autonomy
53:55between teenagers
53:56and their parents
53:57what's different
53:59today
53:59when drugs
54:00and alcohol
54:01have become
54:01so pervasive
54:02is that the stakes
54:04are much higher
54:05it has been
54:15six months
54:16since president
54:17reagan
54:17declared war
54:18on drugs
54:19four months
54:20since congress
54:21responded
54:22by passing
54:23the three billion
54:24dollar
54:25anti-drug bill
54:26now
54:27in his 1988
54:28budget
54:29the president
54:30is recommending
54:31cuts
54:31of nearly
54:32one billion
54:33dollars
54:34from drug
54:35education
54:35enforcement
54:37and prevention
54:38programs
54:39i hope you'll
54:41join us again
54:41next week
54:42for frontline
54:43i'm judy woodruff
54:45good night
54:45next on frontline
54:48they helped
54:49put the first
54:49american
54:50on the moon
54:51did they also
54:52help commit
54:53nazi war crimes
54:54their country
54:55put it a great
54:56deal
54:56to put
54:58the first
54:59man
55:00on the moon
55:01german scientists
55:02were brought
55:02to the u.s.
55:03at the end
55:03of world war ii
55:04to start the
55:05american space
55:06program
55:06did we ignore
55:08their past
55:09watch the
55:10nazi connection
55:11next on frontline
55:12and the moon
55:15and the moon
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55:38and the moon
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