ABSTRACT
Based on 1988 estimates, alcohol and drug abuse costs the American public over $144 billion per year in treatment, crime, lost work time, accidents, and related morbidity and mortality (Rice, Kelman, Miller, & Dunmeyer, 1990; Rice, Max, Novotony, Schultz, & Hodgson, 1992). Controlling substance abuse and its related costs to society starts with youth. Unfortunately, after several years of slight decline shown in youth tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use during the last half of the 1980s, tobacco and marijuana use are again increasing among youth at the rate of 1% to 2% per year, and heavy alcohol use (as indexed by reported drunkenness) has not changed (Johnston, 1995). These statistics suggest that youth continue to experiment with drugs and may progress to abuse levels even more rapidly than in previous years, despite prevention efforts that have received continuous federal funding since the 1980 U.S. Anti-Drug Abuse Act (Bukoski, 1990). The logical question raised by these trends is: What is wrong with our current prevention efforts?
