To help students learn science concepts, Pharmacology Education Partnership (PEP)--a science education program that incorporates relevant topics related to drugs and drug abuse into standard biology and chemistry curricula was developed. The interdisciplinary PEP curriculum provides six modules to teach biology and chemistry principles within the context of pharmacology topics (e.g., drugs of abuse, nerve gas). Teaching modules include catchy names, such as "Acids, Bases, and Cocaine Addicts," "Steroids and Athletes: Genes Work Overtime," and "How Do Drugs Damage Neurons: It's Radical!". To date, PEP has provided professional development for 300 biology and chemistry teachers participating in the studies (and another 100 teachers at ongoing workshops). National field-testing of the curriculum in approximately 16,000 students reveals that the more PEP modules the teachers use, the better their students perform on tests of biology and chemistry concepts. An additional benefit of this approach might also be to students make intelligent decisions about drug use, although this remains to be tested. Substantial gains in achievement may be possible when high school students are taught science using topics that are interesting and relevant to their lives.