As a result, there needs to be more than a "Just Say No" response, said Marsha Rosenbaum, a California drug policy reformer.

"This is for parents that have tried abstinence," Rosenbaum said. "Parents just want a fallback strategy, a Plan B, just in case [their children] don't listen."

Rosenbaum was in Salt Lake City this week as part of an ongoing series of training sessions by the Harm Reduction Project.

The project, based in Salt Lake City, focuses on keeping people safe while they engage in risky behavior, which includes issues regarding drug use and prostitution.

It is not unlike the controversial "safe sex" philosophy in which kids are educated about condoms and family planning.

"It's like comprehensive sex education," Rosenbaum said. "For those kids that are not abstaining, what do you do? That's really the question."

Opponents of methods other than abstinence fear such methods may actually open the door to drug use or sexual activity.

Rosenbaum, who has a doctorate in medical sociology, was a mainstream drug researcher two decades ago, using federal funding to study topics such as heroin use among pregnant women. She shifted to drug education after hearing her daughter's tale of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program (DARE), which she believes relies heavily on fear tactics.

"Our abstinence methods aren't exactly taking," Rosenbaum said.

This is where Rosenbaum and law enforcement diverge, though.

Rosenbaum quotes studies, saying 54 percent of American teens will experiment with drugs. Police, on the other hand, say programs like DARE are putting a dent in illegal drug use.

"We're big DARE supporters," said Ken Wallentine, a public affairs official for the Utah Peace Officers Association.

Giving any ground to the "harm reduction" philosophy is not an option."

"Our general philosophy is completely incompatible with the notion: 'We should surrender to drugs,' " Wallentine said. "It's admitting we can't keep drugs out of our communities. We can. We are doing a good job."

Drug education has been a hot topic since Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson eliminated DARE funding in 2000. And earlier this year, Anderson unveiled a list of seven freedoms people should expect. One of those was allowing teachers to go beyond abstinence-only in public education.

Luciano Colonna, director of the Harm Reduction Project, said parents want options.

"This is a natural way to talk to your children," Colonna said. "You don't have to be involved with any harm reduction or progressive program."

That's where Rosenbaum's program, "Safety First," began.

The program started as a letter written by Rosenbaum, addressing her high school son, printed in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1998. In it, she advises her son to "use common sense" and "most of all, be safe."

"The response I got from parents was: 'This is exactly what I want to say to my child,' " Rosenbaum said.

A short time later, the Drug Policy Alliance, a San Francisco-based drug reform agency, published a 17-page "Safety First" brochure that outlined options for parents worried that their children used drugs.

Today, Rosenbaum is teamed up with the California Parent Teacher Association to get information to more parents.

Getting into classrooms in public schools remains the biggest challenge. The reason: Federal funding prohibits any drug education philosophy other than abstinence.