Drug Education News

“Pupils felt that television (78%), parents (76%) and teachers (70%) were the most helpful sources of information about smoking, alcohol and drugs.

“Fifty nine percent of pupils remembered having lessons about drugs in the last school year, 58% recalled lessons about smoking, and 54% recalled lessons about alcohol.”

The Information Centre have produced their full analysis of the annual survey of drug use, smoking and drinking among young people in England for 2005.

The headlines from the survey were released earlier in the year, but to recap:

• More young people drink, than smoke, than use drugs.
• The prevalence of illegal drug use remains pretty much where it has been since 2001.
• About the same number of boys and girls seem to be taking illegal drugs and drinking alcohol. But girls are more likely to smoke than boys.
• Cannabis remains the most widely used illegal drug.
• Slightly more young people were offered drugs in 2005 than in the previous year. But taken in context the rate remain broadly stable.
• Friends are the main source of illegal drugs.
• Awareness of illegal drugs is high.
• Pupils were inclined to overestimate how many people of their own age smoked or drank
  alcohol, but likely to underestimate how many took drugs.
• 94% of schools have a policy on drug education - 41% had been updated in the last year.
• 98% of schools have a policy covering the consequences of pupils taking drug on school premises, 84% have policy on alcohol and 83% on smoking.

There are some very interesting findings on drug education:

Year 11 pupils who remembered having lessons on smoking in the last year were less likely than those who did not to be regular smokers (22%, compared with 29%). Similarly, Year 11 pupils who remembered having lessons about drugs in the last year were less likely to have taken drugs (excluding volatile substances) in the last month (17%, compared with 25%). There was no relationship between recall of lessons about alcohol and drinking behaviour.

Pupils were asked how lessons about drugs had helped them. Pupils were most likely to say that these lessons had helped them think about the risks of taking drugs (94%), helped them find out more about drugs (88%), and helped them realise that taking drugs is against the law (81%).

This can’t be taken as showing that drug education has an effect on behaviour; young people who take drugs or smoke may “forget” information that conflicts with their behaviour. However, the findings on what the pupils say drug education does show strong educational outcomes and I think are helpful.