Project Towards No Drug Abuse

Project TND is an effective, interactive substance use prevention program that that focuses on three factors that predict drug use, violence, and other problem behaviors among youth, including:

  • Motivation factors (students’ attitudes, beliefs, expectations, and desires)
  • Skills (effective communication, social self-control, and coping)
  • Decision-making (how to make decisions that lead to healthy behaviors)

Risk Factors Addressed:

  • belief that alcohol, tobacco and other drugs (ATOD) are safe to use
  • poor communication skills
  • lack of coping skills
  • poor ability to make healthy decisions
  • low commitment to school

Skills Built:

  • accurate knowledge about the effects of ATOD
  • behavioral and cognitive coping skills
  • stopped or reduced use of ATOD
  • personal commitment to not use ATOD
  • positive future orientation
  • increase in healthy friendships

Age: Grades 9–12

Setting: Full classrooms or small groups during the school day

Format: 12 sessions, 40-50 minutes each, over 4 to 6 weeks

Effectiveness: In randomized control trials the program has been shown to reduce substance use and weapon-carrying (in males) at one year follow-up. Results include:

  • 27% reduction in past-30-day cigarette use
  • 22% reduction in past-30-day marijuana use
  • 26% reduction in past-30-day hard drug use
  • 9% reduction in past-30-day alcohol use among baseline drinkers
  • 25% reduction in one-year weapon-carrying among males