Table 1

Constructs in the Narconon Drug Education Curriculum for high school students.
Narconon Prevention Program Module:
 Session 1: "Drugs and The Body"
 Session 2: "What is a Drug?"
 Session 3: Review

Take Home Assignment: "Speaking With Your Parents."
 Session 4: "Ecstasy – The Real Story"
 Session 5: "Alcohol, Drugs and the Media"
 Session 6: Review

Take Home Assignment: "Examples of Drug Promotion"
 Session 7: "Goals and the Emotional Scale"
 Session 8: "Setting and Achieving Goals"
Knowledge objective
 Drugs have long-lasting physical consequences including deposition in tissues [34]; [35] with residual physical and psychological effects [36]; [37,38].
 Medications, both licit and illicit, have a range of dose-dependent actions from stimulation to depression to death [39]. Drugs affect nutrient status [40]; deficiencies [41,42] can exacerbate withdrawal symptoms [43] and adversely affect mood [44].
 Recap and review of previous modules and take home assignment results.
Media influence and marketing strategies aimed at youths impact their value systems and create false norms [45].
Contrast with negative effects of ecstasy [46], [47].
 Further explores drug promotion strategies, particularly the prevalence of alcohol and tobacco advertising aimed at youth – often subtly placed [48].
 The effects of drugs on the mind; a network of communications visual mental imagery and perceptions.
 Impart the effects of drugs on a person's emotions [49] in contrast with satisfaction achieved from setting and achieving personal goals.
 Recap and review of all previous modules.
Social influence skills
 Resistance based on negative impact on health.
 Resistance based on negative impact on health.
 Recognize the influence of family and peers on drug use behaviors and establishment of norms.
 Correction of false norms regarding popularity and positive attitudes toward substance use.
 Recognize the influence of culture, media, technology and other factors on drug use behaviors.
 Resistance based on negative impact on the mind.
 Resistance based on negative impact on emotions.
 Resistance based on negative impact on personal goals.
Interactive
activity(ies)
 "Icebreaker" drill
Question and answer session
Take-home assignment: personal observations, parental discussion.
 Orientation drill
Question and answer session
 Group discussion: findings from take home assignment.
Group participation: Drugs and the nervous system.
Group participation: effect of drugs on life.
 Orientation drill
Question and answer session
 Orientation drill
Question and answer session
Take-home assignment: Find pro-drug advertising examples in in-store displays, magazines, movies, sporting or music events.
 Group participation: Effects of drugs on the mind.
Group discussion: findings from take home assignment.
Group participation: "The media game."
 Orientation drill
Question and answer session
 Orientation drill
Class discussion: Setting doable goals
Group participation: The scale of emotions.
Essay: Goals for the coming year, how to get started.
Competency enhancement
 Ability to use interpersonal communication skills.
 Demonstrate the ability to assess valid information.
 Ability to use interpersonal communication skills.
Cognitive skills for resisting media influences.
 Ability to use interpersonal communication skills.
 Demonstrate the ability to use decision-making skills and goal-setting skills.
 Skills for increasing self-control and self-esteem realized through development of a clear set of personal goals and strategies for achieving those goals.
Multi-component (family/community)
Assignment involves parent-student conversation.
 In 1998, six percent of parents reported never talked to their children about drugs, this doubled to 12 percent in 2004 [50].

Assignment involves recognition of messages seen in community settings.

Lennox and Cecchini Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy 2008 3:8   doi:10.1186/1747-597X-3-8

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