Drug Education: The Gaps in Rural Versus Urban Communities

Drug education is often lacking in rural communities due to lack of access and lower quality of education causing an increase in youth using substances and drug overdoses. Looking at previous research, there is a definite gap in rural and urban adult and youth substance use. The research showed that higher levels of education show less risk of substance use issues. Research also looked at new programs and how they worked in urban areas to decrease risky substance use behavior. This is a call for new programs to be created for rural communities due to their differences. This research explores substance use across communities, education level, and creating new programs in rural communities and how these factors could lower the gap in communities and may lead to less risky behaviors in youth using substances.