Project ALERT is a “research based drug prevention program,” which my school just informed me they began using last year in the 6th grade. WhyKid’s now in 6th grade, and about to be subjected to it. Everything I’ve read about drug prevention programs in general says that they’re worthless, if not actually harmful. Does anyone know, or can anyone find information on this particular program? All I can find is their website , which of course extolls its virtues and claims studies have shown its effectiveness - but only cites one study, which appears to be suspiciously positive, and was performed by a group I’ve never heard of. Does anyone have kids that have been through it and have anectodal experiences to share? Any other studies?
I don’t know about the program…but a quick internet search shows it’s mostly funded by the Hilton family (under the guise of the Conrad Hilton Foundation), so it doesn’t look like there’s anything insidious about them from that end.
Yeah, but the Hiltons have plenty of Freemason connections, who were working with Illuminati, as well as the Jews & Sanrio, so I would be wary of this program.
you forgot to mention alien abductions and Roswell.
I dont know anything at all about “project alert”–but why is the OP worried about his kid? An elementary school anti-drug program may be, as he says, worthless— but why does he expect it to be “harmful”?
Lots of what we used to be told in grade school and high school about drugs were wrong or extremely exaggerated to make drugs seem really bad. Kids are not as dumb as people think and when they figure out that the anti drug programs are pushing a lot of bull shit the whole message tends to get lost. That is in my opinion how they can be harmful.
Well, if that’s the case, carry on! (My dad and dad’s dad and all the way back are Masons- my kid had surgery for free at the Shriner’s hospital. I really like Masons! 
)
As for the harmful comment, I’m not sure if it’s accurate or not. Perhaps more ignorance can be fought here, because all I can remember is reading some articles a few years ago which seemed to indicate that programs such as *DARE * actually increased the chances kids would do drugs - possibly for the reasons **gazpacho ** speaks of. I know I myself did a huge :rolleyes: every time a teacher told us the marijuana was going to make us go berserk and murder our families in their sleep before running away to live as a teenaged prostitute crack-whore junkie.
But I had one teacher who gave us the positives and negatives about each drug, and even shared her personal experiences, and THAT I respected, and THAT made me not try marijuana until I was 22.
I do speak with him about drugs myself, but I choose to speak of the positive (yep! Cocaine makes you feel like you could take on the world and win, or so I hear) and the negative (of course, it costs a heck of a lot of money, is really tough on your heart and melts your nostrils together so you could get nosebleeds and heart attacks). He seems to appreciate the honesty, and reports no interest in trying drugs. I feel like he is making these decisions out of full information and reason, not out of fear. Therefore, the decisions are more likely to last, even when he learns not all drugs are only scary all the time.
But I am wary - what if in the course of this drug prevention program he is asked to share our conversations and tells the teacher mom thinks marijuana should be legalized and cocaine makes you feel good? There’s some DCFS visits I could just do without.
The harm comes from stating that all drugs are evil and horrid. So kid listens, and one day tries, say, pot. Now, pot has its problems, but it’s nowhere near as bad as say, crack. But the kid doesn’t know this. He realizes pot wasn’t as evil as they said it was, and will assume that the same is true for other drugs-cocaine or heroin.