Understanding Drug Issues

This 160-page workbook is made up of 18 modules and lesson plans that teachers and other drug educators can use to engage young people in thinking about drug issues. Each module comes with recommendations about the appropriate age of the recipients; the length of time it should take and how it can be delivered; an outline of the task and expected outcomes; and issues that young people might raise. Suggestions for follow-up exercises are also provided, along with fictional case studies, brainstorming exercises, and quizzes.

Almost all of the exercises are aimed at 13- and 14-year-olds: only two are described as appropriate for young people under that age, and one is aimed at an older audience. Anyone thinking of using this book needs to be aware that it is not trying to be a structured programme of drug education, rather it offers a prompt that adults might use or adapt to run single sessions.

While the modules are easy to understand, and clear about the resources needed and timings for each task, there is an unevenness, which will mean that educators will want to carefully pick which ones to use. For example, the quizzes may fill the time allotted but are unlikely to embed learning to any meaningful degree. Some of the exercises could have been more effective if they had used examples that more closely resembled young people's lives. For example, how easy is it for a 14-year-old to identify with a 35-year-old?

Even some of the more interesting lessons, such as the exercise considering the legalisation of drugs, are set up without providing the context in which young people might debate the issues. For example, how have countries that have debated these issues dealt with the scenarios that are sketched out here?

Overall, this resource is a mixed bag. Each exercise has been thought through in terms of structuring a session, but I feel that young people ought to expect more from their drug education than many of these exercises offer.

Andrew Brown, co-ordinator, Drug Education Forum

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