Project ALERT is a two-year substance abuse prevention curriculum for middle grade students. Based on the social influence model of behavior change, Project ALERT seeks to motivate young people to identify and resist pro-drug influences and give them the skills to do so. It also helps to reduce barriers to resistance and to build confidence ("self-efficacy") in their ability to use their resistance skills. This approach contrasts with somewhat less successful efforts to prevent substance abuse by providing information or general information skills. Project ALERT is highlighted in the Drug Strategies publication, Making the Grade, the 1998 Annual Report on School Safety, and has been endorsed by the National Middle Schools Association. It has been designated an exemplary model program by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. With funding from NIDA, the program developers are designing a reinforcement program for high school entitled ALERT Plus.

Target Population

- Grade Level: from  Sixth grade to  Eighth grade