Substance misuse
Go to the Policy
update page for the latest information on developments relating to
substance misuse, including details on:
1. FRANK Cocaine campaign - Pablo, the mule dog (December 2008)
2. Publication of the Drug and Alcohol Education report and the Government
response (October 2008)
3. Cannabis reclassification (October 2008)
The Government aims to continue to reduce the level of substance misuse by young people through local delivery of education, prevention, treatment and enforcement programmes as set out in both the new ten-year Drug strategy and the Youth Alcohol Action Plan.
The Government has signaled its commitment to tackling substance misuse with a new national indicator (NI 115 Substance misuse by young people) in the Public Service Agreement 14: to increase the number of children and young people on the path to success.
The new ten-year Drug Strategy prioritises families for the first time and outlines actions to reduce the harm that children experience from either their own or their parent's use of drugs, alcohol and volatile substances (glue, gas, solvents etc.). These include:
- Taking a long-term view of prevention by intervening early with families at
risk, improving treatment for parents with drug problems and protecting their
children during and after the treatment period
- Improving drugs education and strengthening the role of schools and
children's services in identifying problems and intervening earlier
- Integrating substance misuse issues within mainstream children's services and targeted youth support, improving access to positive activities and ensuring effective specialist treatment for under-18s
Funding to support local areas to tackle young people's substance misuse has been maintained during the three years of the Comprehensive Spending Review at over £55 million per year. This is backed up by a number of centrally led initiatives, details of which are available on the policy update page.
To ensure practitioners are aware of the latest developments and resources, further information is available for the following key strategic areas:
-
Drugs,
including volatile substance abuse (VSA)
-
Alcohol
-
Treatment
- Practitioner guidance and resources
Drug and alcohol education
Drug education can reinforce healthy attitudes towards drug use and deepen understanding of the dangers of misuse, delay the age of first use, reduce amounts and frequency of use, and have some impact on reducing numbers using substances. Prevention is best done through early identification of risk factors that lead to substance misuse, and quick effective intervention.
The Children's Plan, published 12 December 2007, sets out the Department's commitment to "examine the effectiveness of current delivery arrangements for all drugs education including alcohol and act to strengthen them if necessary". In response to this commitment, the Drugs and Alcohol Advisory Group was set up to carry out a review. On 23 October 2008, the Government announced that they agreed with the Advisory Group's recommendations, and that PSHE will become a compulsory part of the curriculum from Key Stage 1 to 4 (ages 5 to 16).
This page was last updated on 18 December 2008
