Many of us remember the drug education programs of the 1980s. D.A.R.E., “Just Say No.” There has been mixed data about whether they did much good, but lessons from those campaigns are being applied today.

Ohio is giving it another shot, this time with the Drug Resilience Education Awareness Mentorship program, developed by the Ohio Narcotics Intelligence Center, Ohio Task Force Commanders Association, and Buckeye State Sheriffs’ Association, with support from RecoveryOhio. The pilot program is in K-3 classrooms across Ohio.

A video series focuses on “the importance of hard work, the dangers of using or abusing substances, and the importance of never giving up on dreams.”

Wonderful. Such a program is likely to give kids a solid foundation. But state officials have a responsibility to do more than develop creatively acronymed programs. They must begin to address the economic and socio-cultural woes that create fertile ground for substance abuse in the first place. A vibrant, diverse economy in which families can see promise; lawmakers who value education; removal of the stigma associated with mental illness and poverty … Ohio would conquer the substance abuse epidemic in leaps and bounds if it was to do the heavy lifting on those fronts.