Giving Compass' Take:

• The RAND Corp released a middle school curriculum that emphasizes the dangers of opioid misuse and heroin in an attempt to hinder the growth of the opioid crisis. 

• Approxiamately one-third of teenagers believe there's nothing wrong with misusing prescription drugs. Hopefully, new curriculums such as this one will help young people learn about the long-term effects of how opioids can build to addiction and dangerous epidemics. 

• Read about the role of philanthropy in addressing the opioid crisis. 

In the wake of a nationwide opioid crisis, a free, science-based curriculum centered on the risks of the narcotics was released by the RAND Corp., a nonprofit independent health policy research program.

The opioid misuse and heroin curriculum includes a student-involved lecture, role-play activities and homework to review with parents. This curriculum can be downloaded at ProjectALERT.com and is one of 14 lesson plans on drug and alcohol prevention, all geared toward middle school students.

One-third of teenagers believe there’s nothing wrong with misusing prescription drugs “once in a while,” according to EVERFI, an education technology company. Barely any school district in the country is unaffected by the opioid crisis, and school leaders are looking for new ways to address the issue or stopping it before it starts, when possible. While comprehensive prevention efforts are needed in high schools, the earlier you can get through to students, the better.

Middle-school-geared programs like RAND Corp are helpful, but school leaders will have the most success in approaching both ends of the problem. That means educating students early to prevent opioid use and serving as a conduit to services to students already affecting by the damaging effects of addiction in their families.

Read the full article about opioid crisis by Christina Vercelletto at Education Dive