Drug Education News

News and views from the Drug Education Forum

links for 2009-11-10

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links for 2009-11-09

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links for 2009-11-07

  • Lax standards of school discipline make pupils more likely to turn to crime and drugs, Government research has revealed.

    The Home Office study found pupils at schools which were soft on violence and truanting more likely to break the law.

    As a result, the authors urged ministers to consider toughening up discipline policies.

    Worryingly, the survey of young people's behaviour found nearly three quarters were caught up in either crime, drug taking or anti-social behaviour over four years. Over a single year, the figure was 44%.

    (tags: behaviour)
  • "Sex and drug lessons will be compulsory under plans announced by the Schools Secretary. "

    Despite the title there's nothing in the body of the story about drug education.

    (tags: pshe)

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links for 2009-11-06

  • Religious groups reacted with anger to the move by the Schools Secretary, which will make it compulsory for all pupils aged 15 will learn about relationships, sex and drugs over the course of a year. The age of consent in the UK is 16. The Muslim Council of Britain vowed to mount a challenge to the new laws that it says contravene the right for children to be taught according to their parents’ tradition.
    (tags: pshe)
  • Cannabis use among teenagers has continued to decline in the UK owing to a change in attitudes in the current generation of school students, according to the annual survey from the European drug agency.

    But Britain has retained its position in top spot for cocaine consumption with 5% of young adults aged 15 to 24 reporting that they have used the drug in the past year.

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links for 2009-11-05

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links for 2009-11-03

  • "As for his comments about horse riding being more dangerous than ecstasy, which you quote with such reverence, it is of course a political rather than a scientific point. There are not many kids in my constituency in danger of falling off a horse – there are thousands at risk of being sucked into a world of hopeless despair through drug addiction."

    Alan Johnson MP in a letter to the Guardian explaining his decision to sack the Chair of the ACMD

    (tags: ACMD)

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links for 2009-10-29

  • "There's a new market out there waiting to be explored and exploited. I never could have believed what happened to me, so we need to warn young people before it gets out of control."

    Miss Myers first tried the drug aged 23, after moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the film industry. She was living next door to a crystal meth addict – known as a tweaker.

    (tags: crystalmeth)
  • Youngsters aged between 11 and 16 in Southampton are being invited to an event aimed at educating them about the dangers of drinking too much alcohol.

    Scheduled to coincide with schools' half-term break, the Southampton Kids Alcohol Awareness day will be held at Oceana in Leisure World on Thursday.

    (tags: alcohol)

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links for 2009-10-27

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links for 2009-10-26

  • Researchers at the University of Bristol and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine analyzed numbers of users, the risk of developing schizophrenia and the risk of marijuana use causing schizophrenia and found it would be necessary to stop 2,800 young men who are heavy marijuana users or in young women, 5,000 heavy users, to prevent a single case of schizophrenia.

    Among light marijuana users, those numbers rise to more than 10,000 young men and nearly 30,000 young women to prevent one case of schizophrenia.

  • Drugs are, without doubt, the biggest scourge affecting young people today, and I believe those getting involved in drugs are younger than ever.

    When I was growing up, drug dealers were grown men in their 30s. Now they are teenagers and they are dealing and using drugs in schools. It wasn't like that when I was a teenager.

    I attended Intake High School in Bramley, Leeds, which is not the best of areas. However, I was not aware of kids taking drugs in class or on the school premises.

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links for 2009-10-23

  • Professor Neil McKeganey, from the centre for drug misuse research at Glasgow University, described the rise in the use of cocaine as "very worrying". He said: "In my view, cocaine is one of the most serious threats we are facing. It's not yet on the scale of heroin but it is changing dramatically in terms of misuse."

    Asked about the extent to which the behaviour of drug-taking celebrities could be blamed for drug use among the young, he said: "We wouldn't have one of the largest drug problems in Europe if our drug prevention policies had been successful. I think that [celebrity drug use] doesn't help matters, but it doesn't have a substantial impact on young people taking drugs."

  • Dozens of teachers with criminal convictions are being allowed to remain in the classroom, a shocking investigation has discovered.

    Members of staff who have been convicted of crimes including harassment, battery, assault, indecent exposure, indecent assault and possessing Class A drugs have not been banned from teaching.

    (tags: teachers)
  • Police in a south Wales community are trying to tackle the supply of valium after a number of people, including children, have been taken to hospital.
    (tags: valium Wales)

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About this blog

This blog tries to pick up relevant media and research stories about drug education. It mainly focuses on information in England as this is the geographical remit for the Drug Education Forum. We welcome comments that are on topic.

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