Opinion: Feedback - 'Just say no' won't do

There's little doubt that drug education needs to keep on improving its practice and applying the evidence as it emerges, but using terms such as 'non-judgmental' and 'politically correct' will not take the debate any further forward.

We fear that Iain Duncan Smith and his colleagues have been led up the garden path by those who would return us to the drug education of the Nancy Reagan era 'just say no' messages. They had little credibility with young people then and there's no suggestion that abstinence models have fared any better since.

We believe that drug education, as delivered in schools and youth services, must support parents and help children and young people gain the appropriate knowledge about drugs - which includes legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco - and help them develop their attitudes and skills in relation to the decisions they need to take about their own health.