The Centre for Research on Drugs and Health Behaviour, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK.
Int J Drug Policy. 2010 Nov;21(6):452-8. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2010.09.009. Epub 2010 Oct 29.
Despite concerns regarding youth drug use and 'standards' of drugs education in British schools, little is known about young people's routine experiences of drugs education at school, or schools' other priorities, policies and practices relating to drugs.
Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with students aged 14-15 (N=50) and teachers (N=10) at four schools in England. We used thematic content analysis to explore: young people's accounts of drugs education at secondary school and what they have learnt from this; and students' and teachers' accounts of schools' wider policies and practices relating to drugs.
A recurring theme was that students reported having received little or no drugs education; the majority could not remember having had any at their secondary school. These students were not the 'drugwise' youth described in the normalisation thesis and young people wanted their school to provide them with more information. Teachers recognised that schools' drugs policies were rarely implemented in practice and that drugs education was not a priority. Schools also appear to be adopting new strategies based on surveillance and targeting to control students' drug use. In some cases referrals to a drugs counsellor were coercive and appeared to merely replace classroom-based drugs education.
This study provides further evidence of the gap between drug policies and practice. It may be possible to increase the priority given to comprehensive drugs education and supportive drugs policies by modifying the incentive structures that schools work within. New targeted responses are unlikely to be effective at reducing drug-related harm at a population level because of the small number of students reached, and can be stigmatising. Further research is needed to explore schools' focus on surveillance and targeted control rather than universal education, and to examine interventions that might ensure schools implement adequate drugs education.
尽管人们对英国学校中青少年吸毒问题和毒品教育“标准”存在担忧，但对于年轻人在学校中常规的毒品教育体验，或者学校与毒品相关的其他优先事项、政策和做法却知之甚少。
通过对英格兰四所学校的 14-15 岁学生（N=50）和教师（N=10）进行半结构化访谈，收集了定性数据。我们使用主题内容分析来探讨：学生对中学毒品教育的看法，以及他们从中所学到的内容；以及学生和教师对学校与毒品相关的更广泛政策和做法的看法。
一个反复出现的主题是，学生报告说他们接受的毒品教育很少或根本没有；大多数人记不起在他们的中学里有过任何毒品教育。这些学生并不是正常化理论中描述的“毒品通”，他们希望学校能给他们提供更多的信息。教师们认识到，学校的毒品政策在实践中很少得到执行，毒品教育也不是优先事项。学校似乎也在采取新的策略，基于监控和目标定位来控制学生的吸毒行为。在某些情况下，转介给毒品辅导员是强制性的，似乎只是取代了课堂上的毒品教育。
本研究进一步证明了毒品政策与实践之间存在差距。通过修改学校所处的激励结构，可能会增加对全面毒品教育和支持性毒品政策的重视。由于涉及的学生人数较少，新的有针对性的反应不太可能在减少人群层面的与毒品相关的伤害方面产生效果，而且可能会带有污名化。需要进一步研究学校对监控和针对性控制的关注，而不是普及教育，以及研究可能确保学校实施充分毒品教育的干预措施。
