Effectiveness Bank web site Bulletin
Supported by  Alcohol Research UK web site   Society for the Study of Addiction web site
Top 5 studies to read about drug education
Introducing important studies in the field of drug education that have undergone the critical review of Drug and Alcohol Findings. Click the titles below to understand the key findings and their meaning in the context of British drug education.


The danger of warnings
Barely out of the ’60s and ‘scare them’ was the dominant response to the upsurge in youth drug use. Two young Dutch health educators put it to the test. Their seminal study caused a rethink of national policy in the UK and in the Netherlands, but the lessons still need to be relearnt.

Education’s uncertain saviour
An assessment of 20 years of studies on the Life Skills Training curriculum, the results of which kept hopes alive that school lessons can prevent drug use. If this is the world’s best-evidenced drug education programme, how well do its results stand up to scrutiny?

The American STAR comes to England
It gained pride of place in an official US guide, was the original model for the largest ever national English drug education trial, and received the accolades of experts – yet research on Project STAR was seriously flawed.

Study intended as a make-or-break test for drug education in Britain
In the British context, it was expected to decide whether an evidence-based, well structured and well resourced drug education programme could contribute to reducing youth substance use, yet the multi-million pound Blueprint study never got near fulfilling its promise.

Is interactive teaching the key to effective drug education?
The most influential finding in drug education research – that interactive teaching methods have the greatest prevention impact – was confirmed by this report but later questioned by unpublished analyses using better statistical methods, an episode which has left concern and uncertainty in its wake.

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The Drug and Alcohol Findings Effectiveness Bank offers a free mailing list service updating subscribers to UK-relevant evaluations of drug/alcohol interventions. Findings is supported by Alcohol Research UK and the Society for the Study of Addiction and advised by the National Addiction Centre.