Primary prevention for young children: a comment on the UK government’s 10 year drug strategy

Abstract

The year 1998 saw the publication of the new UK Government’s wide-ranging, 10-year anti-drug strategy. One element of this is the proposal to provide drug education for young children in school. This paper considers the prospects for this aspect of policy in the light of available evidence on the impact of past primary prevention in relation to young people and illicit drugs. The new policy provides two separate questions related to drug education for children. Firstly, will the delivery of drug education from the age of 5 upwards, earlier than has previously been attempted in the UK, have a positive, or a negative impact? Second, is the ‘life-skills’ approach elected for this new education likely to have a tangible, positive, effect? The choice of the age education begins, may allow time for negative attitudes to drugs to be established prior to experiencing them. Additionally, at the age of 5 there is a greater likelihood of being able to reach children who may, later in their lives, be at high risk of drug involvement, thereby equipping them with a degree of knowledge. Based on evaluations of previous life-skills initiatives, the results of these programs offer only a meagre harvest though probably no worse than those from older techniques, such as knowledge/information or values/attitudes approaches. Some key benefits identified from a selection of life-skills programs include a reduction in use, or intended use and the delaying of first use of a drug. Even so, the evidence to show any benefit from such approaches remains sparse.