Drug Prevention Education handbookDear Head of PSHE

The UK has one of the highest levels of teenage drug use anywhere in Europe. If ever there were a country that needed effective drug prevention it is the UK. And yet for many years we have been pursuing an approach to drug education that confines itself to providing information on illegal drugs and leaving it to young people to decide whether they wish to use those drugs.

We have, in a word adopted an increasingly liberal approach to drugs education and in doing so have often left young people unsupported. Mary Brett is one of the people who have challenged the orthodoxy of drugs education that places illegal drug use in a moral vacuum, often ignoring the harms of illegal drugs in favour of viewing illegal drug use as a lifestyle choice.

This book contains wisdom and research but more than that it contains an attitude of care for young people whose lives can be harmed by the wrong choices they may make in relation to illegal drugs.

Mary Brett has on occasion challenged the addictions policy establishment in the UK by asking difficult questions and pursuing their answer. She is to be commended for that and this book based upon her research deserves to be widely read.

Neil McKeganey
Professor of Drug Misuse Research

Extract from Drug Prevention EducationCONTENTS

  • Forewords
  • How drugs work in the brain
  • Illegal drugs
  • Legal drugs
  • Signs and symptoms of drug use
  • What to do in an emergency
  • The law
  • Legalisation–counter arguments
  • How to refuse drugs
  • Current drug education policy in schools
  • The history of drug education
  • The UK Cannabis classification debate
  • Drug prevention education
  • Prevention programmes - points they have in common
  • Government drug education guidelines and advice
  • Random drug testing in schools
  • Government Drug Education material for use in schools
  • Blueprint
  • Independent drug charities
  • Visiting speakers
  • Fall-out from drug use (especially cannabis)
  • KAB (Knowledge, Attitude, Behaviour)
  • Trusted scientific websites, Useful reading
  • Useful addresses and telephone numbers
  • Acronyms etc
  • References

 

Mary Brett is a biologist and former Head of Health Education, Dr Challoner’s Grammar School for boys, Amersham, Bucks. She is a former Vice President of EURAD (Europe Against Drugs), a member of PandA (Prisons and Addictions Forum, Centre for Policy Studies) and a Trustee of CanSS (Cannabis Skunk Support).

This book is available from CanSS at www.cannabisskunksupport.com ... Price £5 + £1.50 p&p

email: mail@cannabisskunksupport.com

CanSS Ltd, Reg charity no. 1125329, PO Box 771, Haywards Heath, RH16 9GN.