FEAR TACTICS WON'T BEAT DRUG ABUSE

A controversial manual is being used in schools to help pupils say no
In Howdon, North Tyneside, last week, children of 13 and 14 were among
seven young people found unconscious after taking a potentially lethal
cocktail of alcohol, cannabis and antidepressants.

Such stories can only reinforce parents' fears that drugs have become
so widespread that it is almost impossible to protect children from
them. Lee Miller, 18, one of the Howdon seven, admitted: "A lot of
kids take it (Temazepam) here. They will do anything for a buzz. It's
easy to get hold of."

In some parts of the North East, binge drinking has traditionally been
regarded as macho but today drugs are seen as a smarter way to get
high.

Stuart Thompson, of the North East Council on Addictions (Neca), says:
"We need to make an impact through education. Drug use is
indiscriminate and even loving parents will find their children
experimenting with drugs unless we educate them about the
consequences.

"It would be heartening to think that Howdon is not the norm, but I
fear it is more prevalent behaviour than we think."

Government exhortations to "Say No" have proved ineffective. Now
schools have moved to the front line of the drugs education campaign
by making use of Taking Drugs Seriously, a controversial manual
produced by Healthwise, a Government-backed drug education company.
Its supporters say that drug education has to keep pace with changes
in people's use of drugs.

The material may have been criticised in some quarters, but 14,000
primary and secondary schools have bought the manual. One of its
suggestions is that children should "role play" being a drug dealer as
a way to address such questions as the difference between cannabis and
crack, and what will happen if they are caught smoking a joint.

In one lesson they pretend to be on a space station with eight people
taking drugs, including a heroin user, an HIV-positive 13-year-old boy
on medication, and an alcoholic female doctor. The pupils decide which
three should be evicted.

A survey of teenagers in 30 European countries showed that UK youths
were the most widespread users of all illegal drugs listed, including
cocaine, Ecstasy and LSD. And there is plenty of evidence to suggest
that it is not only children in run-down areas who are at risk.
According to the Office of National Statistics, the number of 11 to
15-year-olds who take drugs is 13 per cent in middle-class areas,
compared with 10 per cent in deprived areas.

The same survey, of 9,000 teenagers from 340 schools, also suggests
that school performance is linked to drug use. The figures show that
pupils who expected to sit GCSEs but not to get good results were
twice as likely to use drugs as pupils who expected good results or
who were not expecting to sit GCSEs at all, suggesting a link between
poor self-esteem and drug use.

Pressure from home and fear of failure may also contribute to
drug-taking, as 22 per cent of pupils who had used drugs in the past
year agreed that "my parents expect too much of me".

Julian Cohen, co-author of the drugs manual, is a former teacher who
has conducted research on drugs education in Australia, The
Netherlands, the US and Britain and has acted as a consultant to the
DfEE.

"Inducing fear in children is dangerous and ineffective as a way of
preventing drug use," he says. "If they are informed they are more
likely to make sensible decisions about drug use. Nothing in the
manual says 'Don't', because we know that's not a way of exploring the
issues. There are many stereotypes around illegal drugs and if you try
to reinforce them, children will mistrust you.

"There isn't much overt peer pressure to use drugs, it is more a
matter of peer preference. Low self-esteem may be connected with drug
use, but high selfesteem can encourage the use of recreational drugs."

Parents of teenagers know that drug use is accepted as part of the
clubbing culture, and is seen as relatively harmless despite the
tragic deaths of young girls such as 18-year-old Leah Betts, from
Essex, and 15-year-old Stacey Laight from Hartlepool.

Cohen says: "Drugs education can't stop young people taking drugs, any
more than sex education stops them having sex. But we know that
successful sex education programmes lead to them having intercourse at
a later age and being more likely to use protection. It's about
informed choices and safe behaviour.

"A UK crime survey showed that the majority of parents with kids at
primary school have used cannabis - many still do - so education about
drugs must be relevant and age-appropriate."

Eric Winston is deputy head teacher of Sir Harry Smith Community
College in Peterborough, a mixed 11-to-18 comprehensive with 700
pupils. He uses Taking Drugs Seriously, and agrees that you can no
longer use fear as a tactic."We know that children have access to a
wide range of drugs and they will have to make a choice about whether,
and what, they use," he says. "By starting with 11-year-olds we find
out what they know; some are naive, others streetwise. We adapt the
material as they go through the school and we use sixth-formers to
help get the programme across to younger pupils, because they are
often more effective than a teacher.

"We demonstrate the material to parents so they know what is happening
in the classroom, but also to educate them too. We know that children
of 11 are targeted by drug-sellers and we hope that by preparing them,
they will be better able to resist when they are approached. But we
have to accept that there is experimentation."