The Role of Schools in Substance Use Prevention
Introduction
Apart from home, schools are where children spend most of their time: from infancy through to late teens and early adulthood and beyond. Schools have the mandate to shape minds and character in the right direction. Substance use is a disease which affects many people and often begins during adolescence (Shrestha et al., 2024). With full access to students while they are at school, schools are well placed to observe signs of risk, empower students to make informed decisions and provide treatment interventions for those who may need it.
Let’s discuss some ways schools can actively educate, guide and provide substance use interventions for their students.
- Drug Education in the Curriculum
About a year ago, when I was conducting interviews for my Master’s thesis, I spoke to some people who had a history of drug use; they all agreed that adding drug education, specifically the nature of substance use disorder, to the school curriculum would have served as a protective factor against drug use for them (Asiome, 2024).
A review of the integration of health and academic education for the prevention of drug use by Melendez-Torrez et al. (2018) found that such a strategy has a significant effect on reducing substance use.
The sort of school education that works is one that also corrects misinformation, moves from a position of fear to a position of empowerment, where students are presented with facts and encouraged to think critically about potential risky situations and offer appropriate peer-led interventions (UNODC, 2025).
- Teacher Training for Early Detection
Most of the time, when students are found to be using substances, they are either given a stern warning in the presence of the whole school, suspended or dismissed without any helpful interventions. Such strategies are counterproductive (Murdocco & Arrega, 2023). Schools are not to provide academic training alone; they are to be designed to train and shape students to thrive in all aspects of life.
Following the aforementioned idea, schools should invest in training their teachers to be able to identify early signs of risk for using substances, to be able to put in the best interventions to help prevent substance initiation and also to refer those who have already initiated substance use for appropriate treatment (Ezomo & Prinsloo, 2025).
- Extra-Curricular Activities and Student Empowerment
Extra-curricular activities such as sports and art workshops, among others, offer students the opportunity to exercise, form healthy social bonds, and release physical and mental stress. All these are protective factors for those who may be at risk of substance use. By engaging in productive extra-curricular activities, students use their leisure time productively instead of being pulled into risky activities and bad company. (ISA DATA, 2018).
Research also points out that empowering students through vocational training and life skills training, such as effective communication, assertiveness, effective decision making and conflict resolution, helps them solve problems and make informed decisions when faced with situations in which they may be influenced to use substances (Makinde et al., 2025).
- Creating Supportive School Environments
Teachers are in a unique position to notice students who may be dealing with difficult emotional problems, mental health issues or some form of trauma. The teachers must create a welcoming atmosphere where there is trust and confidentiality between them and their students, so that students can feel comfortable discussing such sensitive issues (Salahuddin, 2025).
The school must also put effective policies in place to address bullying, discrimination, promote positive peer influence and emotional safety. When students feel like they can express their needs without being judged, they will feel safe enough to discuss their problems instead of resorting to substance use (Roots Through Recovery, 2023).
- Collaborate with Parents
For any school intervention on substance use prevention to be effective, schools need to collaborate with parents. Parents must be engaged through educational workshops on how to protect children at home from the risks of substance initiation (Sharma, 2025).
When students are found to already be involved in substance use, parents and teachers must collaborate to make sure that the necessary help is provided. Raising well-balanced students should not be a battle between parents and teachers, as is seen on the news these days; it must be a shared responsibility where teachers and parents put up a united front to achieve the best outcomes.
Conclusion
Substance use prevention at school is effective when a safe space is created where students can share their problems with teachers without fear of being judged. A safe space also means bullying and other unhealthy peer activities are effectively addressed to give way for healthy socialisation and extra-curricular activities. Teachers also need to be equipped with the skills to empower students to make informed choices and most importantly, collaborate with parents to recognise early signs of risk.
References
Asiome, E. (2024). The Causes of Substance Use Disorder Among Ghanaian Women: A Case Study of Women in In-Patient Drug Rehabilitation Centres in Accra and Kumasi [Master’s thesis]. Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC).
Ezomo, O. D., & Prinsloo, C. (2025). Empowering educators: Addressing drug abuse among students in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges. International Journal of Training Research, 23(3), 173–186. https://doi.org/10.1080/14480220.2024.2373147
ISA DATA. (2018). (PDF) The influence of extra-curricular activities and peer influence on substance use. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232466962_The_influence_of_extra-curricular_activities_and_peer_influence_on_substance_use
Makinde, B., Adisa, P., & Ajibade, B. (2025). Effect of Life Skills Training Towards the Prevention of Drug Abuse among Adolescents in Nigeria. International Journal of Nursing, Midwife and Health Related Cases, 11, 65–77. https://doi.org/10.37745/ijnmh.15/vol11n16577
Murdocco, M., & Arrega, S. (2023, September 4). Drugs in Schools: Beyond Punishment. Palabra. https://www.palabranahj.org/archive/drugs-in-schools-beyond-punishment
Roots Through Recovery. (2023). How Bullying Can Result in Drug Use. https://roots-recovery.com/how-bullying-can-result-in-drug-use/
Salahuddin, U. (2025, October 31). Building Safe Spaces: The Role of Schools in Youth Drug Prevention – Bridging Hope, Inc. dba Organization of Hope, Inc. https://www.organizationofhope.org/building-safe-spaces-the-role-of-schools-in-youth-drug-prevention/
Sharma, P. (2025). (PDF) A Collaborative Approach to Preventing Drug Use in Schools: The Role of Parents, Teachers, and the Community. ResearchGate. https://doi.org/10.55640/ijssll-05-11-08
Shrestha, S., Velayudhan, B., Yn, S., R, V. L., & Khattri, J. B. (2024). Effectiveness of School-based Substance abuse Prevention Programme (SSPP) on awareness, attitude, peer pressure, and life skills among adolescents in selected public schools of Pokhara, Nepal–A cluster randomized trial protocol. Mental Health & Prevention, 34, 200342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhp.2024.200342
UNODC. (2025). Schools based education for drug abuse prevention. https://groupdocs.site/reviews/E0D98D/313205/4984032-schools-school-based-education-for-drug-abuse-prevention
