DRUG SAFETY TAUGHT, SAYS SCHOOLS CHIEF

Government schools have comprehensive and effective drug education
programs, Education Department director-general Peter Browne claims.

"Our schools teach students to say no to drugs and to understand the
harmful effects of drug use," Mr Browne said yesterday. He was speaking
after the release of an issues paper covering young people and illicit drug
use.

The most recent research on WA students aged 12 to 17 showed nearly four in
10 students had used cannabis. Amphetamines were the second most prevalent
illicit drug - being used by 14.3 per cent - followed by LSD which had been
used by one in 10.

The head of the group which investigated the issue, WA Institute of Child
Health Research Professor Sven Silburn, said there needed to be more
intervention in schools if authorities wanted to reduce the effect of drug use.

The paper found while drug education was an integral part of the WA health
education curriculum, it was still not available to all students.

Mr Browne said from kindergarten to Year 3, children were taught about the
safe use and storage of medicines, non-drug alternatives to minor pain
relief and how to avoid passive smoking.

In middle primary school children studied the harmful effects of smoking
and how to say no to peers offering them cigarettes.

Students in upper primary and lower secondary school learnt about the
harmful health, legal and social effects of alcohol and cannabis. They were
taught problem solving to help them say no to drugs.

Ranford Primary School in Canning Vale has two teachers trained under the
school education drug project.

They have run information sessions for parents but have not experienced
problems with drugs.