NCJ Number
195557
Journal
Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2002 Pages: 153-168
Date Published
May 2002
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This article provides an evaluation of a drug prevention program in England called the Integrated Program (IP).
Abstract
The IP attempted to expose pupils to a range of drug education methods including drama workshops, curricula, visiting speakers, and drug information packs. Some outreach projects targeted at at-risk young people were delivered outside school hours. Meetings for parents focusing on drugs and the ways to negotiate with children were held. Prevention messages were aimed at reducing the prevalence of use, delaying age of onset, and warning about the frequency of use and the mixing of drugs and alcohol. Evaluation was based on tracking 13- and 15-year-old students in four sites in West Yorkshire and Northumbria for 3 years. The drug status/usage variables were those who took cannabis only; one other drug aside from cannabis; one or more of cannabis, nitrites, solvents, or legal herbal drugs only; amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, LSD, magic mushrooms, or tranquilizers; and at least one drug. The most rudimentary measure was drug trying. Use was based on a drug-taking episode within the past year. Regular use was based on a drug-taking episode within the past month. Results showed that the IP did little to disturb the scale of onset/first trying and on many measures produced no attributable effect, but there were gains. All the gains clustered around the de-escalation of styles of drug use or the maintenance of ‘cannibis only’ and ‘softer’ drug use in the action sites. The last occasion when whole birth cohorts of adolescents can be successfully captured and exposed to drug education is at age 15. The secondary school is the most cost-effective arena to organize universal program delivery but there are limitations. Between 10 and 20 percent of the target group will miss some or all program exposure through legitimate absence but more commonly through truancy, lesson avoidance, or being excluded from school. Those who are disproportionately drug experienced and involved are likely to be the hardest to capture and engage. It is vital that a more sophisticated evaluative design is included whereby multi-site comparisons can be undertaken and multi-level statistical analyses employed. 7 tables, 25 references