• Get talking. Stage a debate on a topic that focuses on drug use. Encourage students to research and get the facts.
• Cultural context. Nations take different attitudes toward alcohol, tobacco and drugs. Choose a country and explore the cultural context of these substances.
• International Issues. Alcohol, tobacco and drugs are produced in countries all around the world. Explore these Nations and the role these substances play in a particular country’s economic states.

• The write stuff. Give writing assignments on the facts, risks, and signs of alcohol, tobacco, and drug use. Ask students to write a report, creative story, or play that addresses these topics.
• Word wise. Encourage students to research the origins of drugs slang terms.
• “No!” This is one of the first words that young children learn. You would think that learning to say no would be easy. But, young people and adults, alike, seem to have trouble with that word sometimes. To help them have a “No” List that students can resort to when they are asked to use alcohol, tobacco, or drugs, make four different colored posters with the answers to the different suggestions below:

1. Write some polite ways to say no.
2. Write some ways that make an excuse.
3. Write down some ways that avoid the situation.
4. Write down some ways that tell the person about your values, explaining why you choose not to use tobacco, alcohol, or drugs.

Review these posters with students regularly to help them have a plan and the confidence to follow through with it. Role play different situations with the responses listed on the posters to ensure they are comfortable and quick to respond when they are pressured to use alcohol, tobacco, or drugs.

• How much is it going to cost? Smoking is not a cheap habit. Calculate how much a pack of cigarettes costs and how much the average smoker might spend in a given time. Then, make a list of other things you could buy with that cash!
• How much is really too much? Research and chart blood alcohol levels based on body size and alcohol intake.
• Have students research alcohol, tobacco, and drug related statistics on the percentage of different age groups negatively effected by the substances in the nation, state or their own community.

• What’s in that stuff? Identify the chemicals and ingredients in different household products and compare them to the chemicals and ingredients in illicit substances.
• The brain factor. What effects do alcohol, tobacco, and drugs have on the brain? Get creative and make a paper mache replica of a brain that has been affected by these substances.

• Students have a lot of questions, but you may not always have the time or resources to answer them fully. Keep various alcohol, tobacco, and drug brochures on hand to answer students’ questions fully – including the ones they won’t ask.
• Have each student choose alcohol, tobacco, smokeless tobacco, secondhand smoke, or one of the many various illegal drugs and do a 15 minute presentation on the negative effects on a person’s body. Make sure that no two students have the same topic to present to ensure that the entire class has heard a variety of presentations throughout the week. By the end of the week they will have learned a volume of information on the negative effects of these illegal substances.

• Create word search or crossword puzzles using the terms of the negative effects of alcohol, tobacco, or various drugs. Create one per week, concentrating on a particular topic each week. By the end of the school year they will have a comprehensive list of the negative effects of these illegal and dangerous substances.
• Put on a play. When a rainy day keeps the students inside, ask the students to write a play or puppet show to warn younger students about using alcohol, tobacco, and drugs.
• Have students create public service announcements warning the student body of the negative effects of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. Highlight a different substance each week and get permission for a different student to read the public service announcement over the school public announcement system.
• Get involved with Red Ribbon Week in October:

1. Have students make alcohol-free; drug-free and tobacco free pledges.
2. Create a drug-free slogan to be posted throughout your classroom and hall.
3. Make bookmarks with an anti-drug message.
4. Have your students compose a positive song about not using drugs or songs warning about the dangers of drug use.
5. Have a Red Ribbon Parade Skateboard Parade. Have students work in teams to construct their floats from shoe boxes attached to skate boards or skates. They can use construction paper, markers, and paint to create their anti-drug messages. Have them attach string to the float so that it can be pulled along in the parade. Have a class, grade or school competition! Appoint a panel of judges to award a variety of prizes for floats, including most creative, most effective, most colorful, best anti-drug message, etc. Encourage spectators to line the parade route and take photographs.
6. Door decorating contest. Encourage your school and student body to have a contest decorating all the doors red throughout the school with anti-drug messages. Have a panel of judges award a variety of prizes for winning doors. Another alternative s to have all students vote for their favorite door.