Welcome to The PRIDE Curriculum
Preventive, Resilient, & Inclusive Drug Education
The REACH Lab's PRIDE Curriculum, which is part of both the Tobacco Prevention Toolkit and the Cannabis Awareness & PreventionToolkit, is a 4-lesson evidence-based informed curriculum on nicotine/tobacco and cannabis created by the Stanford REACH Lab in collaboration with youth, educators, parents, and counselors from the LGBTQ+ community. It is essential to create a substance use prevention curriculum that resonates with the unique experiences of minority communities, particularly the LGBTQ+ community. These lessons include the specific barriers and stressors faced by LGBTQ+ youth, highlighting a sense of identity and connection. Lesson one explores the health effects of nicotine and cannabis on the brain and body. Then in lesson two students navigate how identity and intersectionality shape perceptions of substance use in youth, with a specific focus on how these factors impact LGBTQ+ individuals. Additionally, we explore the balance between stress and wellness for those experiencing minority stressors and trauma in lesson three, offering students holistic approaches to manage various and complex stressors in their lives. The curriculum concludes with lesson four by helping students identify and practice recognizing the marketing tactics employed by the tobacco and cannabis industries to target specific groups, particularly the LGBTQ+ community.
Introduction to the Curriculum and General Information
The PRIDE Curriculum includes a middle and high school program that are 4 lessons, approximately 50 minutes each.
Every lesson provides activities, online quiz games, and worksheets in addition to presentations, resources, and other materials aimed at addressing key factors associated with youth e-cigarette and cannabis use, including changing adolescents’ attitudes towards and misperceptions about e-cigarettes and cannabis; increasing their refusal skills to pulls of flavors, marketing, and social media; reducing stress and depression which have been linked to e-cigarette and cannabis initiation and use; improving coping; and decreasing intentions and actual use of all products.
These 4 in-class sessions are reinforced outside of the classroom with follow-up discussion guides that provide open-ended questions and activities for youth to discuss various e-cigarette and cannabis related topics with a trusted adult and/or peer in order to open dialogue between youth and adults. The curriculum is meant to reach all youth, including those at highest risk of tobacco use, racial/ethnic minorities, students in continuation and alternative schools, and those identifying as LGBTQ+.
