reported that they participated in some type of alcohol/drug education in the current school year. However, despite efforts by schools to provide alcohol/drug education, about 30 percent of the students participating in these programs reported easy access to alcohol or marijuana at school, and about 20 percent reported easy access to other drugs. Reported easy access to alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs is not appreciably different among students who reported no alcohol/drug education in the current school year. The same pattern, no real differences between students reporting current alcohol/drug education and those who did not, also emerged for students who reported witnessing other students under the influence of alcohol or other drugs at school.Reported peer approval of alcohol and other drugs, which might be expected to be the most closely associated with alcohol/drug education, showed a similar pattern. Only small differences between students who reported alcohol/drug education in school during the current year and students who did not report such education were found. Included under alcohol/drug education were various types of programs ranging from education integrated into the curriculum to one-time brief presentations. Also, students may participate in more extensive programs at some grade levels and not at others. Therefore, these findings, based on education of any type in the current year only, should not be construed as indicating that alcohol/drug education does not have any beneficial impact on students.The Main Message About Alcohol in School Alcohol/Drug Education ProgramsThe absence of a clear and important impact by education programs on alcohol and drugs at school may be due to many factors. (See Silvia and Thorne 1997 for similar findings and a discussion of some of those factors.) Students who did not report receipt of alcohol/drug education in the current school year may have participated in such an educational p...
