Education/Prevention – drugs

From harm to hope: first annual report 2022 to 2023 (2023)
The first annual report of the drug strategy sets out the progress from the first year of delivery, one year into the government’s 10 year plan. This report outlines progress on national delivery following the first full year of funding associated with the strategy, including delivery against commitments and goals, the key issues and challenges, including delivery of the recommendations made by the government’s Independent Advisor Dame Carol Black in her 2021 Review of Drugs | Home Office, UK

Government response to the independent review of drugs by Dame Carol Black (2021)
Details the government’s response to parts 1 and 2 of Dame Carol Black’s independent review of drugs | Department of Health and Social Care and Home Office, UK

Review of drugs part two: prevention, treatment, and recovery [Dame Carol Black report, part 2], (2021)
This is Part 2 of Dame Carol Black’s independent review for government, setting out a way forward on drug treatment and recovery. Part 1 laid bare the extent of the illicit drugs market in the UK, worth almost £10 billion a year, with 3 million users and a supply chain that has become increasingly violent and exploitative. This is explored further in Part 2, which concludes that the public provision we currently have for prevention, treatment and recovery is not fit for purpose, and urgently needs repair | DHSC, UK

Parents with alcohol and drug problems: guidance for adult treatment and children and family services (2021)
This planning and operational guidance is for directors of public health and commissioners and providers of adult alcohol and drug treatment and children and family services. The guidance outlines the main issues for families affected by parental alcohol and drug problems and shows how services can work together to support them | PHE, UK

United Kingdom drug situation: Focal Point annual report (2020)
Annual report and data tables from the UK Focal Point on Drugs on the national prevalence, impact, prevention and treatment of drug use | Public Health England, Home Office, Welsh Government, The Scottish Government, Public Health Wales, and Department of Health (Northern Ireland), UK

Guidance: Misuse of illicit drugs and medicines: applying All Our Health (2019)
Evidence and guidance to help health professionals identify, prevent or reduce drug-related harm | PHE, UK

Making the Grade: School Prevention, Identification and Responses to Drug-related Harm (2019)
This 2019 report considers how the UK’s education system responds to drugs by examining the approaches taken to preventing, identifying and responding to illegal drug use and selling in schools. It looks at the policy frameworks that these responsibilities operate within and considers how efficacious they are in safeguarding children and young people from drug-related harm | Volte Face and Mentor, UK

What we have learned over the last ten years: A summary of knowledge acquired and produced by the UN system on drug-related matters, 2019 (PDF)
This brief is a collection of successful experiences in law enforcement, prevention, health care, human rights and development over the last ten years. It is a tool for sharing best practices and promoting evidence-based, rights-based approaches | UNODC, Austria

Vulnerabilities and substance use: ACMD report (2018)
Independent report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) investigates the risk factors to substance use-related problems and harms | ACMD, UK

European Drug Report 2018
What are the latest drug market trends and what are the factors driving them? What drugs are causing the most concern today? What are the most recent developments in drug prevention, treatment and policy? These, and other, questions are explored by the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA) in its annual overview of the European drug situation | EMCDDA, Portugal

Drug misuse prevention, 2018
This quality standard covers the prevention or delay of harmful use of drugs by children, young people and adults most likely to start using drugs, or already experimenting or using drugs occasionally. This includes illegal psychoactive substances, solvents, volatile substances, image- and performance-enhancing drugs, prescription-only medicines and over-the-counter medicines. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement | NICE, UK

Alcohol and drug education in 2017: our findings
Improvements in PSHE provision, especially alcohol and drug education, are essential to ensuring students’ academic, personal and social wellbeing is supported. This report indicates that little has changed in the thinking of schools, students or other stakeholders since our report on the evaluation of Mentor-ADEPIS in 2013 | Mentor-Adepis, UK

Drug strategy 2017
The drug strategy 2017 sets out how the government and its partners, at local, national and international levels, will take new action to tackle drug misuse and the harms it causes | Home Office, UK

European Drug Report 2016: Trends and Developments, 2016
What are the latest trends in drug supply to Europe? What drugs are causing the most harm and concern today? What are the most recent developments in drug prevention, treatment and policy? These and other questions are explored by the EMCDDA in its European Drug Report 2016 | EMCDDA, Portugal

The international evidence on the prevention of drug and alcohol use Summary and examples of implementation in England, 2015 (PDF)
The briefing provides a summary of the UNODC prevention standards and gives corresponding examples of relevant UK guidelines, programmes and interventions currently available in England. Its aim is to help people who commission, develop and implement prevention strategies and interventions to translate the standards into the English operating landscape. It also aims to support local authority commissioners to develop their prevention strategies and implement them in line with evidence | PHE, UK

International Resource Finder
This interactive tool features more than 100 resources from a variety of organisations across the world | Mentor, UK

New guidelines of CAYT repository of impact studies,  2015
CAYT‘s primary aim is to provide education and prevention practitioners with evidence of what has proved – or is promising – to be of good practice; to highlight those programmes showing high effectiveness and rigorous evidence | CAYT – Mentor – ADEPIS,UK

European Drug Prevention Quality Standards (EDPQS) – Achieving QUALITY in Drug Prevention, 2015
The European Drug Prevention Quality Standards (‘Prevention Standards’) represent the work of the European Prevention Standards Partnership, working in close co-operation with the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). The aim of this work is to provide guidance and support to those working in the European drug prevention community and to promote awareness and application of high quality policy and practice | European Drug Prevention Standards, UK

Prevention of addictive behaviours, 2015
This publication is an update of Prevention of substance abuse, published in 2007. Like the previous analysis, it is a translation of a German study that presents a state-of-the-art review of prevention science. Although originally targeted at the German audience, the evidence base addressed is global in its scope. The review is broad in its considerations, covering not only the main topic of drug abuse but also alcohol and tobacco, as well as behavioural addictions, such as gambling | EMCDDA, Portugal

New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) resource pack, 2015
In response to the NPS expert paneI, the government committed to developing a NPS resource pack for informal educators and frontline practitioners to use to prevent drug taking amongst young people. The pack has been created alongside drug treatment partners. Written for those working with young people, the pack includes:

  • facts and information about NPS
  • case studies on working with young people who use NPS
  • resources to help start conversations about NPS with young people
  • references for further help and information

PHE, UK