Drug Education in Schools: a Review.

Drug use by young people is widespread and increasing. Attempts to prevent or reduce young people's drug use have focused on school-based education, This paper examines some of these strategies. There is wide agreement that providing information about drugs is necessary but insufficient; in addition, you rig people need to be given the opportunity to examine attitudes about drug use, develop skills in making decisions about use and look at ways to reduce the harms that are associated with their own and others' use of both legal and illegal drugs. Most commentators are also agreed that drug education needs to start early and should take account of what young people already know about drugs. Peer-led approaches are promising but not yet adequately evaluated. Because there are basic differences in philosophies and equivocal research on the effectiveness of drug education there is little consensus on a number of issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]