Drug Education News

Drink and Drugs News have asked Robert Skilleter, a pupil from a North Yorkshire grammer school, to write about his drug education:

We began the topic by looking at what we already knew and we were handed some sheets to find this out. It had been decided that we would start by looking at drugs in general [...]

Libby at Alcohol Policy UK has one of their regular looks at what’s going on with local enforcement around young people’s drinking.

The BBC have a story about a health survey carried out in schools in West Sussex:
Findings included that 30% of girls were smokers compared with 20% of boys.
One in 10 pupils reported regularly drinking with the intention of getting drunk.
And one in 10 pupils was a current user of cannabis, while 3% were regular users.
The [...]

Having seen what Gordon Brown said about drug education yesterday I somehow missed his words on alcohol:
Binge drinking and underage drinking that disrupt neighbourhoods are unacceptable.
To punish: let me tell the shops that repeatedly sell alcohol to those who are under age – we will take your licences away.
To prevent: councils should use new powers to ban [...]

The Telegraph have invited Frank Furedi to write about young people’s drinking:
In Britain, children learn at an early age that drinking is not something you do at home and it is certainly not an experience to be shared with parents. As a result, drinking becomes risqué, binge drinking something to flaunt and brag about.
Sadly, all the fuss [...]

The Times has a story about what parents can do to help improve their children’s drug education.  One of the services described is Drug-proof your kids, run by Forum members Care for the Family and Hope UK. 
The course began by asking us how prevalent we thought drug use was in 15 to 16-year-olds. We all [...]

The Home Office have published some research on risk factors for drug misuse problems.  They say:

For the 10- to 16-year-olds the analysis shows that key factors associated with increased risk of taking any drug are:

serious anti-social behaviour;
weak parental attitude towards bad behaviour;
being in trouble at school (including truanting and exclusion);
friends in trouble;
being unhelpful;
early smoking;
not getting free [...]

Here’s what Gordon Brown had to say in Bournmouth yesterday about the issue of drugs:
To punish the evil of drug pushers who poison our children: I want the tough new powers that have already closed over one thousand crack houses in some areas of the country to be used in all areas of the country.
And [...]

The Telegraph:
“Basically, it’s a waste of time telling students not to do drugs or drink,” says the Telegraph’s resident junior hospital doctor Max Pemberton. “What I do think is worthwhile, though, is making sure they know where to turn if things go wrong. The fact is, universities offer far better support services (counselling, welfare officers, [...]

The Telegraph in a wide ranging interview with Ed Balls get a clear message about underage drinking:

As his job title implies, he also sees himself as a “champion of the family” across the whole government. He is particularly proud of a scheme to be launched with Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, to crack down on under-age drinking [...]