Other Materials

Office of National Drug Control Policy Newsletters

Strategies for Success, a newsletter from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, provides information on random student drug testing and youth drug use, from case studies of successful programs to biological research on intoxication and addiction, and many other interesting topics.

• Issue #1 (PDF, 921KB)
• Issue #2 (PDF, 701KB)
• Issue #3 (PDF, 807KB)

State and Local Resources

You can find an overview of State and Local Resources from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, including drug indicator profiles and links to resources in the state.

Office of National Drug Control Policy Pamphlets

This publication from ONDCP provides an overview of student drug testing and explains the arguments for its use. It describes many aspects of student drug-testing programs, including funding, administration, processes, and strategies for working with students who test positive.

This publication from ONDCP complements the previous publication, What to Know About Student Drug Testing, and builds on the arguments set forth for a comprehensive, school-based drug prevention strategy that includes student drug testing. This document is intended for those interested in establishing a drug-testing program to develop a coherent, confidential, and effective program.

This ONDCP publication details several tools against drug use and features chapters on both community-based anti-drug coalitions and drug testing in schools and the workplace.

Surveys of Youth Drug Use

These surveys are conducted by different government agencies and research universities to monitor trends in drug use in American youth

Monitoring the Future is an ongoing study of the behaviors, attitudes, and values of American secondary school students, college students, and young adults. The study is conducted by the University of Michigan and funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Each year, approximately fifty thousand 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students are surveyed. In addition, annual follow-up questionnaires are mailed to a sample of each graduating class for a number of years after their initial participation.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) involves interviews with approximately 70,000 randomly selected individuals aged 12 and older. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which funds the NSDUH, is an agency within the U.S. Public Health Service, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Supervision of the project comes from SAMHSA's Office of Applied Studies (OAS).

Pride Surveys was created in 1982 by professors at Georgia State University in Atlanta and Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green.  This survey may help schools measure student alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use.  In 1998, a federal law designated Pride Surveys as an official measurement of adolescent drug use in America. Pride Surveys now measure behavior on many crucial issues that can affect learning: family, discipline, safety, activities, gangs, and more.

The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) was developed in 1990 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to monitor health risk behaviors that contribute markedly to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth and adults in the United States. These behaviors, often established during childhood and early adolescence, include:

• Tobacco use
• Unhealthy dietary behaviors
• Inadequate physical activity
• Alcohol and other drug use
• Sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection
• Behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence

The YRBSS includes national, state, and local school-based surveys of representative samples of 9th- through 12th-grade students. These surveys are conducted every 2 years, usually during the spring semester. The national survey, conducted by the CDC, provides data representative of high school students in public and private schools in the United States. The state and local surveys, conducted by departments of health and education, provide data representative of public high school students in each state or local school district.

Partnership for a Drug-Free America Resources

This Spanish-language site contains information for parents of about how to have open and honest dialogue with their children about the dangers of drugs and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  Hosted by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating children, parents, and communities on the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.