Purpose: This investigation focuses on similarities and differences in prescription drug information presented in high-school and middle-school health textbooks. Significance: Textbooks are a primary conduit for the health curriculum. Treatment of prescription drug information in textbooks can produce potential misunderstandings of prescription drug issues. Differences in middle-school and high-school textbooks can produce knowledge and skill gaps. Methods: Data were collected from the universe of middle-school (n=17) and high school (n=7) health textbooks. The unit of analysis was any sentence related to, or potentially related to, prescription drugs. Two coders assessed 8,641 sentences for topic and context. The topic system included 14 main categories subdivided into 126 specific topic codes (inter-rater reliability 87.2%). A two-dimensional context matrix segregated sentences into use versus abuse and explicit versus implicit (inter-rater reliability 96%). Findings: Both middle-school and high-school textbooks emphasize prescription drug abuse (65.1%) over drug use information (34.9%). However, middle-school textbooks (37% of sentences) deal more frequently with use. Although both grade-levels mainly address prescription drug implicitly (70.2% implicit; 29.8% explicit), middle school books are more likely to be explicit. Middle-school textbooks were more likely to include topic categories “basic prescription drug information” and “drugs in general” (prescription and illicit),” whereas high-school textbooks were more likely to address “specific prescription drugs abused.” Conclusion: With all textbooks discussing prescription drugs primarily in an implicit context, students are likely to be under-informed about prescription drug issues. Differences in topics and in use-abuse emphasis between grade-level textbooks may lead to gaps in knowledge and understanding of prescription drugs. At the conclusion of this session, participants will (1) be able to identify similarities and differences in the presentation of prescription drug information in middle-school and high-school textbooks, (2) be aware of the implications of presenting prescription drug information in an implicit, rather than explicit context, and (3) understand the role played by textbooks in health education and appreciate the implications of how different textbook presentations of prescription drug issues can influence student and teacher understanding. Keyword(s): curriculum development, health promotion, youth-at-risk