EDUCATION AND ADVICE ABOUT ILLEGAL DRUGS - WHAT DO YOUNG-PEOPLE WANT

Research and debate concerning education about illegal drugs rarely ex plores what young people themselves want. The paper reports research w hich looked at this issue in a sample of 2100 young people aged 11-16. Issues explored included the drugs education and advice the sample ha d received, what they thought of this, and where and in what form they would like to receive information about illegal drugs. Results includ e a preference for drug education from someone with personal experienc e of illegal drugs, and for private sources (such as leaflets and book s) as well as more public ways (such as videos and talks) of accessing information about drugs. A number of implications of the results for drug education and advice are presented.