Main Street,U.S.A.: Fact and Fiction about Drug Abuse

Relative to the urban slum or commune environment, little is known of the drug abuse attitudes and knowledge of Middle America. As illicit drug use has become widespread in our society, demand for effective drug education, prevention, and rehabilitation has risen. It is important that the attitudes and knowledge of both those using, and not using drugs, be known in order to deal with these problems successfully.

In a small Eastern community (population 25,000) in the United States, a random sample (N = 124) of teachers, parents, police, mental health clinic workers, ministers, and high school students (both drug users and nonusers) were interviewed and tested to ascertain their attitudes and knowledge regarding drugs.

The findings are that drug users, in addition to being much more knowledgeable about drugs than nonusers, encounter quite different problems related to drug use than nonusers might imagine. Evidence indicates that users are aware of the fallacy of considering “drugs” in a general, all-encompassing fashion, and instead make sharp distinctions between drugs, whereas nonusers continually fail to do this.

Prevention/educational programs should take into consideration both a large attitudinal difference and a certain sophistication among drug users, even at the high school level. Particular problems and areas of ignorance among the educators (usually nondrug using) are indicated so as to further aid in establishing more realistic, efficient, and effective organizing, staffing, and operating of programs.