Drug Education News

BBC:
Police have been issued with a test kit to prove whether teenagers in a Suffolk village have laced cans and bottles of soft drinks with alcohol.Officers hope the tests will cut drink-related crime and anti-social behaviour in Kesgrave, near Ipswich.
BBC again:
Three out of seven shops sold alcohol to an underage teenager during a police [...]

Medical Rearch Council:
It is not levels of underage drinking, but early signs of antisocial behaviour that best predict future alcohol-related trouble and continued alcohol use by young people. This conclusion is drawn from a study led by Robert Young of the Medical Research Council Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow.
Published in the Journal [...]

Here’s a presentation we had from a Home Office civil servant at the last Drug Education Forum.

On Monday the House of Lords held a short debate on Our Community Your Choice, the consultation document on the next drug strategy.
Lord Bassam makes the government’s case:
Reductions in drug use among young people demonstrate that our cross-departmental young people and drugs programme is having a positive impact through improved targeting of early intervention for [...]

NCB (a Forum member) have sent me the following that I thought may be of interest to readers of this blog:
See the Child, not the drugs: Supporting vulnerable young people affected by drug use
Tuesday 4th December 2007, Glaziers Hall, London
In 2005, five leading children’s charities formed the first alliance of its kind, to work [...]

My thanks to Sean at the PSHE Network for highlighting the Channel 4 film making competition BREATHE:
Imagine you’re hanging out with your mates and talking about smoking and why it’s not a good idea. How smoking damages your health, your looks and your wealth… Then think about how you might put your thoughts into [...]

At the Forum meeting last week we were fortunate to have a presentation from Dr Nichole Taske about NICE’s work around drugs, alcohol and smoking in young people.

The presentation covers the way they work (and look for input) as well as an overview of their recent and current guidance in this area.
During the course of [...]

The Home Office’s publication of the annual drug statistics from the British Crime Survey is the subject of widespread media attention.
The Guardian (x2) report:
British Crime Survey statistics showed that the proportion of 16- to 24-year-olds using cannabis slumped from 28% a decade ago to 21% now, with its declining popularity accelerating after the decision [...]

Drug and Alcohol Findings have a review of normative educational approaches.  It concludes:
School drug prevention programmes should incorporate teaching which corrects inaccurate beliefs about the normality and acceptability of drug use.  If lesson time is limited, using it in this way would normally be more effective than teaching refusal skills.  Normative beliefs are most relevant [...]

Having published our response to the consultation I thought it would be helpful to point to what others are saying.  I’m going to focus here on what they’ve said  about drug education but as you’ll appreciate their responses are much more comprehensive.
The Children’s Society:
The Children’s Society agrees that the delivery of drug education should be [...]