In the past few weeks, two young Cork men died as a result of synthetic drug use. The deaths have prompted some second-level teachers to ask people whose relatives have died as a result of drug abuse to visit schools to talk to pupils about the dangers of drugs.
Why are school principals facilitating this kind of ineffective drug education? Why are they still allowing young people to be scared and using fear to teach young people about substance use, including the use of illegal drugs, when it is clear, or should be, that such approaches don’t work?
In 2010 every second-level school received a circular from the Department of Education and Skills (DES) outlining best practice in the mandatory implementation of Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE), which includes drug education.
Schools were advised to avoid “scare tactics”
Source: Jacky Jones,The Irish Times, 21/02/17
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