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School policies can contribute to drug prevention

Clear policy messages that are consistently enforced are associated with fewer students using drugs on school grounds¹. When students, parents and school staff are aware of and perceive the school's enforcement of substance use as strong and consistent, numbers of students reporting substance use are fewer^2,3.

Harm minimisation is the guiding principle for Australian drug policies. Enforcement of harm minimisation policy messages may involve punishment but also consider referral to counselling services to contribute to curtailing future use and harm. Abstinence messages are often popular in the community however harm minimisation messages are also beneficial and do not lead to greater student experimentation with tobacco⁴. In relation to alcohol, few interventions reduce the numbers of students who experiment however strong harm minimisation messages have been shown to contribute to a reduction in alcohol-related harms⁵.

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¹Evans-Whipp, TJ., Bond, L., Toumbourou, JW., Catalano, RF. (2007) School, parent and student perspectives of school drug policies. The Journal of School Health. Vol 77(3) pp 138-146.

² Lipperman-Kreda, S., Paschall, MJ., Grube,JW. (2009) Perceived enforcement of school tobacco policy and adolescents' cigarette smoking. Preventative Medicine Vol 48(6), pp562-566.

³Sabiston, CM., Lovato, CY., Ahmed, R., Pullman, WA., Hadd, V., Campbell, HS., Nykiforuk, C., Brown, KS. (2009) School smoking policy characteristics and individual perceptions of the school tobacco context: Are they linked to students ' smoking status? Journal of Youth and Adolescence Vol 38(10) 1374-1387.

⁴Hamilton, G., Cross, D., Resnicow, K., Shaw, T. (2007) Does harm minimisation lead to greater experimentation? Results from a school smoking intervention trial. Drug and Alcohol Review Vol 26(6) pp 605-613.

⁵McBride, N., Midford, R., Farringdon, F., Phillips, M. (2000) Early results from a school alcohol harm minimisation study: The school health and alcohol harm reduction project (SHAHRP) Addiction Vol 95(7) 1021-42.

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