Last October, President Reagan signed the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, describing it as a ‘major victory in our crusade against drugs.’ For Reagan the aim was to achieve ‘nothing less than a drug-free generation’ a contrast to the more modest…
Tag Archive for prevention
Druglink article 1986 – Soft sell-hard cell by Liz Jagger
Prevention policy in Scotland is both softer and harder than in England and Wales. The mass media campaign is softer, focusing on social issues and positive lifestyles rather than on the effects of heroin. But drug enforcement in Scotland is…
Druglink article 1986 – Prevention charter by Les Kay
Les Kay challenges drugs and prevention workers to break out from ineffective school-based attempts to stop drug use to explore new community approaches to reducing drug harm – and be ready to face the flak. Prevention charter (PDF)
Druglink article 1986 – Media campaigns by Nicholas Dorn
From the start the government’s heroin campaign was controversial, opposed by ‘experts’ but favoured by politicians. Nick Dorn describes the background to the campaign and the evaluations of its impact, reminding those of us south of the border that a…
Prevention
What is Prevention? There are three types of prevention: Primary prevention This means trying to stop people using drugs before they have started using them. Secondary prevention This means trying to stop or reduce the harm that people do to…
Education/Prevention – tobacco
NHS stop smoking services quarterlyThis release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents information from October to December 2025 on NHS Stop Smoking Services in Scotland and health boards’ progress towards their annual Local Delivery Plan (LDP) Standard. In the period…
Education/Prevention – alcohol
Drinkaware unveils new shared ambition to reduce number of risky drinkers in the UK by 2 millionDrinkaware, the UK’s leading charity tackling alcohol harm, has today launched a new five-year strategy setting out an ambitious shared target to reduce the…
Education/Prevention – drugs
A whole-system response to drug prevention in the UK The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) was commissioned in July 2023 to provide advice on drug prevention for young people, supporting the 10-year national drugs strategy (‘From harm to…
What’s the Government doing about drugs?
Latest funding and announcements October 2025The UK government launched a campaign aimed at 16 to 24 year olds and social media users to highlight the risks of using drugs such as ketamine, counterfeit medicines and adulterated THC vapes. The initiative…
How effective are media campaigns?
Trying to determine whether people have changed their drug taking because they saw a campaign is near impossible to measure. Many surveys about drugs show that most people’s main source of information about drugs is the popular media. Most media…