The effectiveness of primary school drug education

Early use of drugs such as tobacco and alcohol is associated with later drug misuse and the agc of initiation into drug use is falling ill the UK and elsewhere. Arguably educational interventions must start ill the primary school ill order to maximize ally preventive impact yet such education is underdeveloped and poorly researched. This article reviews the (mainly US) literature oil the effectiveness of school-based educational interventions targeted at children below 11 years of age with the objective of preventing illicit drug rise. Such evaluations are rare partly because they require a long timescale before impacts become measurable. The major (but still small-scale) British study to date suggested that a broad-based, life-skills programme could help prevent drug use. Other British studies have,demonstrated the feasibility of implementing dung Education in the primary school and some have recorded improvements in variables thought to relate to later drug use/problems. Outside the UK, studies of two popular approaches (DARE and Life Education Centres) have been generally inconclusive or disappointing. However, there is evidence that long-term, intensive programmes, especially those which involve parents and the wider community and employ interactive teaching styles, can have a lasting and worthwhile impact on later drug use. Recommendations are made for UK practice based partly on these finding.