What can you do
as a Teacher?

Drug-free campuses and classrooms begin with the teacher. Before we begin to talk drugs and schools, we’d like you to do a small exercise.

Imagine that you were that child with a drug problem - a child who is desperately looking for help. Now try to pick a teacher, from all the teachers you’ve had as a child, that you thought you could and would go to for help

If you can put a name and face to such a person, congratulations. You have someone you can emulate. But on the other hand, if you can’t really think of a teacher you can trust - you know exactly what is missing in the system. Children deserve a system that isn’t judgemental, distant, harsh, dismissive or indifferent. They deserve to feel like we are rooting for them and will do all that we can to ensure their safety.

We forget that children today have challenges that we never imagined back in our time. Their anxieties, pressures and motivations might as well be from another planet. And we do them a massive disservice by comparing their experience with ours.