What Is The Drug Education Forum?
The Drug Education Forum is a forum of national organisations committed to improving the practice and profile of drug education in the USA.
What Are Our Aims?
The Drug Education Forum was established in 1995 by a range of organisations that felt that there needed to be an independent voice for drug education in the USA. From 1995 until 2002 the Forum was hosted by the National Children’s Bureau, since then it has been based with Mentor USA till now, 2022.
The Forum tries to influence public policy and to disseminate the best research on what is effective in drug education for all groups of people, including drug users. We produce easily digestible briefings for our members – and a wider audience – and respond to consultations on policy. We write on various drug-related topics – drug addiction, recovery from substance use, drug testing, marijuana detection, etc.
Membership
Membership of the Forum is open to any national organisation that has an interest in the delivery of effective drug education in America and who shares our statement of beliefs. To find out more about joining the Forum, contact us.
Current members include major children’s and drug charities, national independent providers and health educators, teaching, nursing and youth service unions, the police and local government. A full list of members can be found in the sidebar to the right.
Meetings
The Forum meets at least three times a year. Meetings are open to members of the Forum and members of our sister organisation the Drug Education Practitioners Forum.
The meetings are an opportunity to discuss drug policy with senior policy makers, share good practice and new research, and learn more about the work of our members.
Governance
The Forum has a constitution which is available on request.
The Forum elects an Advisory Group from amongst the membership every two years. This group overseas the work of the coordinator and takes a leading role in developing the work plan and representing the Forum to wider audiences.
Papers for practitioners
The Drug Education Forum has a history of supporting the development of practice and policy. We have produced six papers with the aim of helping those engaged in teaching drug education, whether in school or other settings, to address issues that we believe are important to meeting the needs of children and young people.
The papers include the principles of good drug education, working as a visitor to school, the use of rules and ethos to protect young people, engaging parents, learning from life skills programmes, and addressing legal highs.
Read more here.
Government drug advice for schools
The Department for Education and Association of Chief Police Officers have published joint guidance for schools to help them manage drug and alcohol incidents, inform them about their legal powers they have (particularly around searching pupils and confiscating contraband) and to help them develop a drug policy.
Download our briefing paper on the guidance here.
Response to the PSHE Review
The Drug Education Forum has submitted our formal response to the government’s internal review of PSHE education.
We have called on the government to meet the Prime Minister’s stated aim of ensuring that all schools deliver good drug education, and to help schools access up to date evidence on what is likely to be effective in achieving the outcomes they and society want from drug education.
Read our response here.
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