Consumerism perpetuates the act of poaching for if there was no demand there would be no business in poaching. With education this consumerism has the ability to be reduced. Education, specifically, regarding the effects the purchase of ivory has upon African societies as well as elephants through this process of attempting to prove wealth.
It can be argued that drugs are educated about as well as lawfully enforced upon, yet their usage still largely occurs. However the difference from the ivory trade would be that drugs are addictive unlike an ivory object. The purchase of ivory is based upon a societal view of class and wealth which can be altered through laws and education or messages such as that by China (the recent prohibition of legal ivory trade).
Individually donating to organisations such as Save the Elephants or World Wildlife Fund enables awareness and empowerment for future action. The problem with educating a first world society is that not everyone has the desire to be educated but coupled with a stricter legislation upon the illegal purchase of ivory then the demand has the ability to decrease. Social pressure succeeded in significantly reducing the sale of real fur and hopefully a similar effort with regard to ivory could produce tangible results