drug education in context

Drug Education in Context

The Drug Education Forum• Body for national organisations committed to

improving the effectiveness and profile of drug education in England

• 31 members• Meets at least 3 times a year• Produces briefings for the field and policy makers• Contributes to development of policy and

practice– DfES guidance to schools, ACPO Joining Forces,

Blueprint, Drug and Alcohol Education Review

www.drugeducationforum.com

THE NATIONAL POLICY PICTURE


Strategies

Drug Strategy• Treatment for all drug-misusing

parents.• Supporting parents to educate

their children and with early intervention for at risk families.

• Support kin carers, such as grandparents caring for the children of substance-misusing parents.

• Support parents with substance misuse problems so that children do not fall into excessive or inappropriate caring roles.

Youth Alcohol Action Plan• Stepping up enforcement activity

to address young people drinking in public places.

• Taking action with industry on young people and alcohol.

• Developing a national consensus on young people and drinking.

• Establishing a new partnership with parents on teenage drinking.

• Supporting young people to make sensible decisions about alcohol.


PSA 14

• Broader than substance misuse.• Substance misuse indicator is about

prevalence of young people's use of illegal drugs, alcohol and VSA (not tobacco).

• Measured through Tellus survey.– Ofsted conducts and provides analysis– Voluntary for schools–Wider than drugs


Tellus3 – Have you ever taken drugs?


Tellus3 – Have you ever drunk alcohol?


Tellus3 – Have you ever smoked?


NICE

• Finished– Interventions to reduce

substance misuse among vulnerable young people

– School-based interventions on alcohol

– Preventing the uptake of smoking by children and young people

• Started – PSHE focusing on sexual

health and alcohol.– School-based interventions

to prevent smoking


The Conservatives

• Social Justice Policy Review led by Iain Duncan Smith.– Breakthrough Britain had a section on Addiction• Against 'value free' (harm reduction) drug education• Return of abstinence debate• Research random drug testing

• David Cameron keen on bigger role for ex-users in schools.
