Drug Education News

The Sunday Mirror has picked up on the service being offered by private companies to search individual homes with drugs dogs. In passing it also reports:
The latest school to use sniffer dogs is 1,600-pupil Kingsway High in Gatley, Stockport, Ches. About 260 pupils were taken out of class while a dog sniffed their blazers and [...]

Teachers TV are showing a programme about drug education in a primary school setting:

Find out how two primary schools teach the facts about drugs and help equip their students with the life skills to make informed choices about drugs in future.
This programme features new techniques for teaching pupils the facts about drugs, and equipping them [...]

Sunderland Today report on proposals being developed by Lord Mackenzie:
Under new proposals, parents concerned about their children would be able to let the animals into their homes.
The dogs and their handlers would be made available through schools and colleges in the city.
Former Durham Police superintendent and crime specialist Lord Mackenzie will submit the plans to [...]

The BMJ run a story on Dutch research about early onset cannabis use:
The chance of Dutch teenagers using hard drugs later in life is six times greater among those who use cannabis than among those who don’t. This is the conclusion of a study from Amsterdam’s Free University.

The BBC have an article on the decision 50 years ago to make heroin illegal:
As recently as the 1950s, heroin was a popular medicine prescribed by family doctors. But growing fears about the drug’s addictiveness led to the start of it becoming criminalised, 50 years ago this week.
“The Case for Heroin” - so [...]

The BMJ have published a study on the links between cannabis and psychosis in young people. The paper concludes:
Cannabis use moderately increases the risk of psychotic symptoms in young people but has a much stronger effect in those with evidence of predisposition for psychosis.

The Times and other news organisations are covering Charles Clarke’s decision on cannabis, including his commitment to a public education campaign:
Concerns about a link between super-strength cannabis varieties and mental illness have mounted since the down-grading of the drug took effect in January 2004, making cannabis possession a non-arrestable offence in most cases.
Mr Clarke said [...]

TheyWorkForYou have Caroline Flint’s answer to a question from John Bercow about alcohol misuse and young people. She says:

Alcohol education is a statutory part of the national curriculum, which requires all children to learn about the risks of alcohol. This sits within a broader programme of drug education since many of the attitudes and [...]

A The Evening Telegraph from Derbyshire reports on a new scheme to help identify young people who may be misusing drugs, alcohol or solvents:
The Substance Use and Misuse Screening Tool is a detailed checklist of issues which can be given to non-drug specialists, including youth offending workers and social workers, to lead them in talking [...]

The BBC report on the police and local authority in Newcastle working together on a protocol for dealing with drug and alcohol incidents in schools. The story says the protocol will include:

what schools should do in relation to police and what treatment is available to pupils involved in alcohol or drug-related incidents.
Letters [...]