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Governments love spending money on drug education for adolescents in schools, but does it work? New research suggests it must be done carefully, non-judgmentally and tailored to the real world of adolescents in order to reduce consumption. Governments love spending money on schools' drug education. They think there are votes in it. But there's a teeny problem here: there's little evidence that schools' drug education works. Until now that is, because research from Western Australia has found that if you do it carefully, non-judgmentally and tailored to the real world of adolescents, it can reduce consumption. It's called the SHAHRP program and focuses on the real problem substance among adolescents: alcohol, which about 70 per cent of 14-year-olds and above consume regularly, often in a risky way. The reason past drug education has been thought to fail is that it has tended to preach abstinence, which is pretty unrealistic. The Perth program researched what messages and techniques might work and aimed at practical advice and information for young people when they're in alcohol use situations - things like how much they might be drinking at each sip, what's a standard drink, and tips on how to avoid excessive consumption as well as the risks involved. It translated into a 30 per cent drop in alcohol consumption through the high school years, less risky drinking and less harm.
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