Substance abuse is pervasive in both rural and urban settings. Previous attempts to educate America's youth as to its dangers have not reduced the numbers of adolescents involved in the drug culture. The assertiveness-based "Just Say No" campaign attempts to counter peer pressure to use drugs, but is hampered by our society's encouragement of conformity. Traditionally, our children have not been taught the assertiveness, problem-solving, and decision-making skills required to "say no." Research indicates that many drug users exhibit social skills deficits, although it is unclear whether drug use is enhanced by such deficits or causes them. A number of commercial programs are available to remediate the social skills deficits identified in school-aged drug users. Two methods that may be particularly useful for disseminating such information in rural schools are computer-assisted instruction and interactive video. This paper reviews ways to use computers, interactive video, and multimedia systems to teach social skills and drug education curricula. Hardware requirements and commercially available software, as well as ideas for custom-designed programs are described. Distance learning systems are briefly discussed as an alternative to traditional teaching methods. A bibliography contains 25 references. (SV)