Perceptions and attitudes among public school teachers towards the topic of drugs

In Brazil, although teachers are considered potential agents for prevention of drug use, school-based prevention programs have not achieved the expected results over a period of more than two decades. Aiming to help in identifying the origin of the problem, teachers' perceptions and attitudes regarding this issue were evaluated. Twenty elementary and high school teachers in the city of Sao Paulo participated in this study, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with them. Although these professionals recognized that they were opinion formers, they did not consider that they had sufficient skills to deal with this topic among their students, because of lack of information, interest or ability to deal with it. Regarding the information on this topic, it was found that there was low perception of risks associated with legal drugs. Given these results, it is suggested that school-based prevention programs should be reviewed and should involve participation by specialized professionals.