From Hansard the Home Secretary responding to a question from Keith Vaz MP about how the decision to reclassify cannabis will be conveyed to young people:
We are allocating more than £6 million this year, partly to the “Frank” campaign, which has proven very successful, with a high rate of recognition among young people, and in increasing by 12 percentage points the number of young people who now recognise that cannabis impacts on mental health. The drugs strategy, published at the end of February, made it clear that, together with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, we will work closely with parents through a new coalition of family charities; improve the information and guidance available to all parents; and continue to provide important drug advice through “Frank”, and also through improving universal education and information for children and young people about drugs, alcohol and other volatile substance misuse. That drugs strategy, together with the proposals that I have set out today, forms a coherent approach that sees reclassification as the start of the process, not the end. It also takes seriously the responsibility to ensure that the public health messages sent to young people and others are communicated clearly.
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15 May, 2008 at 9:29 am
I see this as an opportunity for DEF to write to Keith Vaz, thanking him for asking this crucially important question, and emphasising the importance of the role of “improving universal education and information for children and young people about drugs, alcohol and other volatile substance misuse”. It would also seem vital to seek further clarification - perhaps from the Home Sec, as lead on the drugs strategy, and perhaps from Ed Balls as Ed Sec - on how this is to be carried out, and whether any of the £6m is to be spent on this task.