Drug Education News

The Croydon Advertiser quotes Andy Opie, from Croydon’s Drug and Alcohol Action Team:
‘If 11 and 12-year-olds are getting treatment you need to get into primary schools so they start taking this on board.
‘They’re fairly isolated cases but still worrying. It shows the need for consistent and early drug education. We do deliver a lot of [...]

Drug use prevention among young people: a review of reviews from NICE “focuses on ‘what works’ to prevent and/or reduce illicit drug use among young people aged between 7 and 25 years old.”
Tags: drug prevention, young people

The BBC report on a survey of schools about teenage drug use:
One in five secondary school children tried drugs in the last year, figures from a national survey suggest.
A quarter told the Information Centre for Health and Social Care survey they had drunk alcohol in the last week.
While 10% of the 9,000 youngsters aged 11-15 [...]

24dash.com report on a drug education initiative in Lancaster:
Children as young as nine are to get advice on drugs when a new board game is launched in Lancaster and Morecambe’s primary schools this week.
The game, called ‘Joint Efforts - Primary Edition’, has been designed to help educate nine to 11-year-old children - along with their [...]

The South London Press report Drug Education Forum Chair, Jenny McWhirter, on the need for young children to learn about drugs:

YEARS ago, educating children about drugs would have been scoffed at.
But today it is increasingly seen as the frontline against one of Britain’s biggest problems…

Mrs McWhirter believes education from an early age is the key. [...]

The BBC report a new initiative from the DfES: “

Schools in England are to get parent support advisers to help tackle unruly pupil behaviour and poor attendance.
The idea, recommended in Sir Alan Steer’s report into discipline, is to be tested in 600 primary and secondary schools from September.

The risk and protective factors that affect [...]

The BBC report number of HIV-positive drug users who inject has reached its highest level for more than a decade. Will Nutland, head of health promotion services at HIV/Aids charity Terrence Higgins Trust, is quoted saying:
“In the late 80s and early 90s, the UK investment in harm reduction services for injecting drug users [...]

The DfES have published their response to the Youth Matters Green Paper (there’s also a summary for the time poor). The Forum was one of what I understand to be 19,000 respondents to the Green Paper
Nothing specific about drug education, in the response but a commitment to young people’s health:
We want young people to [...]

Drugscope have produced a useful resource for young people interested in learning more about drugs:
Young people have embraced the web with enthusiasm and have realised that online resources can offer a range of exciting new learning experiences. The field of drugs is no exception and a number of UK based drug information websites have been [...]

The BBC carries a story about arrests of children and young people in the South West of England:
Children as young as 11 are being arrested for using illegal drugs in the South West, new statistics have shown.
Last year’s police figures show two 11-year-olds arrested for cannabis possession and three 13-year-olds for supplying cannabis.
Nearly 50 children [...]