UNIVERSITY OF CAGAYAN VALLEY

Tuguegarao City

NSTP MODULE – 6TH MEETING

DRUG EDUCATION (DRUG, SUBSTANCE, ABUSE, PREVENTION AND CONTROL)

Overview/Introduction Drug education program for the youth us a significant

undertaking in order to free them from danger and keep them
away for drugs. The youth today comprise the most
vulnerable group that can be affected by prohibited drugs that
are commonly abused. According to Gen. Edgar C Galvante,
former executive director of the Dangerous Drug Board, most
drug users start their habit early, usually during their teenage
years. They are particularly susceptible to the drug
experience because adolescence is the period of
experimentation, exploration, curiosity and search for identity.
It is believed that young people with problematic background
are more vulnerable and are more likely to continue abusing
drugs once they have started, and to develop other aggravating
problems, if not processed. These young people in difficult
circumstances are associated with poverty, family
disintegration, relocation, discrimination and lack of suitable
alternative activities.

Learning Objectives At the end of this modular unit, students are expected to:
1. Explore the nature and effects of drugs of abuse and
substances such as alcohol, tobacco and others on
personal health and social relationships
2. Synthesize right information on the health, legal, and
social consequences of drugs and substance abuse and
examine how this negatively impacts the person who
uses the drugs, and his family, friends and community
3. Value one’s contribution in preventing and controlling
drugs and substance abuse
4. Value one’s contribution in prevention of controlling
drugs and substances

Discussions:

Drug abuse prevention done through problem awareness, education and strategy
implementation, is very vital to the success in controlling and stopping drug abuse. Positive
behavior, including the constructive handling of feelings and responsibilities, should be installed
and encouraged in our own families during the early life of young family members and carried
on up to the later stage of life. These should be nurtured by a caring and understanding
community.

It has been known that the foremost d reason why our youth is dragged into the abyss of
drug abuse is the lack of guidance from the family itself. There are aspects to this reason. First
maybe the parents are too busy with their jobs, giving less time to their children. Second, parents
have not finished schooling making them less informed and less aware of the effects of drugs.
Third, the type of discipline of the parents includes physical violence, thus, in most cases, in the
Philippines, drives away the kid from home.

The 2nd most predominant reason adolescence is the period where wants exceeds
necessities. A teenager spends more time with friends and peers rather than at home. It is the
stage where a youngster has continuing searching of identity and place in society. The influence
of the peers, either friends or activity partners has been proven as a strong force of initiation
into drug addiction among the youth.

A drug addict is generally an emotionally unstable individual before he or she acquires

the habit. The person cannot face painful situations without help. He has little or no self-control.
He or she hates physical mental and moral sufferings. Every individual cannot stand alone, as
we say it.

A person will try to use drugs if a friends insists for the sake of friendship. This
weakness is a predator and hard to dismantle for most teenagers.

Truly, drug abuse is a predator, a monster that preys on innocent, curious mind like those
of the teenagers. Hence, this module zeroes in on uncovering problem of drug abuse among the
youngsters and on finding ways and means by which this menace could be lessened, if not totally
annihilated.