Substance Use Education

For elementary schools: 

• Age-appropriate substance use lessons for elementary students focus on character building, self-esteem, and  resisting external pressures. Although many lessons focus on alcohol and tobacco use, the concepts taught apply to all substances. 

• Teachers can access substance use prevention lessons for grades K-5 HealthSmart Substance Use Lessons (login required).

For middle schools:

• Project Alert: A research-validated Tobacco and Drug Prevention Education Curriculum for seventh grade. 
• You and Me, Together Vape-Free Middle School Curriculum: Lessons from Stanford University, each providing activities, online quiz games and worksheets in addition to presentations, resources, and other materials aimed at preventing and reducing e-cigarette use. 
• Peer Education: We train over 130 students as MS Tobacco Youth Outreach workers who provide Classroom Peer Education and lead Anti-Tobacco media and school campaigns.
• Intervention Services:  All students who are caught using tobacco on campus are mandated to attend a Mandatory Tobacco Awareness session with the School District Nurse, Social Worker or trained Tobacco Youth Outreach worker.  

For high schools:

• Safety First: a harm reduction-based drug education curriculum for high school students. It adheres to research-based prevention and drug education principles while equipping teens to make safer choices about drug use.
• You and Me, Together Vape-Free High School Curriculum: Lessons from Stanford University, each providing activities, online quiz games and worksheets in addition to presentations, resources, and other materials aimed at preventing and reducing e-cigarette use. 
• Peer Education: We train over 150 students as HS Tobacco Youth Outreach Workers who provide classroom peer education sessions and lead anti-tobacco media and school campaigns.
• Intervention Services:  Students who are caught using tobacco or vaping on campus are issued a Tobacco citation. They are expected to attend a mandatory Tobacco Awareness session with the school Nurse or trained Tobacco Youth Outreach Worker.
• Quit Groups: For those students who are interested in cutting back or quitting, we offer a Quit Group or provide one on one counseling with a Community Based Agency or School Nurse.

SFUSD provides multiple resources prepared by nurses, for nurses at middle and high schools to use in school sites. Tools include self-introduction scripts, PowerPoint presentations for faculty, Kahoot! games, and “how-to” presentations for nurses to learn more about teaching resources such as the Tar Jar, Pig Lungs, and about cannabis. Tools may also be useful for elementary level.

• Tobacco Use Prevention Education Toolbox

TUPE Materials to be checked out

• We have a collection of substance use education materials available for check out. Here is the link to request the materials.