An Update on Adolescent Drug Use:What School Counselors Need to Know

Abstract

School counselors need to have accurate and ageappropriate prevention education information in order to counsel teens on drug use. This article presents developmentally specific prevention materials for the most important emerging substances of abuse: Ecstasy, methamphetamine, cough and cold medication, prescription opiates and stimulants, and the date rape drugs. Because developing appropriate materials requires understanding how adolescents develop, an expert panel approach was used, supplemented with a literature review and teen focus groups.