Program to Help Youths Resist Drugs Expands

A federally funded program that teaches adolescents how to say no to drugs, alcohol and sex is expanding to 200 cities nationwide with the help of information learned in test cities such as San Diego and La Habra, Calif.

The Boys Clubs of America, with an annual grant of nearly $500,000 from the U.S. Public Health Service, is moving into the second phase of a three-year campaign to encourage young people to resist peer pressure.

“Telling kids to say no is not enough,” said the club’s national prevention program director, Gail Diem. “It is a beginning. Our theme is: Why say no, and how do you say no when there’s pressure on you when you’re alone?”

Tested in 10 Cities

The Stand Up and Be Counted program started last year with tests in 10 cities that used role playing to improve youths’ self-esteem and sense of responsibility. Prevention teams of 16- and 17-year-old club members were formed to meet once a week with groups of younger children.

Peer pressure was targeted because of the prevalence of that factor in youths’ exposure to drugs and alcohol. A 1985 survey by the National Council on Alcoholism showed that 80% of high school students said that youths their age pressured others to drink beer, wine or liquor.

More than 6 million teen-agers between 12 and 17 have used marijuana, the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration has estimated, and the pregnancy rate has increased since the mid-1970s from 99 pregnancies per thousand teen-age girls to 112.