Young people

Blueprint has distilled principles of what works from international research and analysed the content of effective drug education strategies. It has forged links between this evidence base and existing practice with trial testing of materials involving feedback from pupils, parents and teachers.

We are drawing on best evidence from programmes that have been shown to make a difference. We are also using research that tells us about the style and content of information that young people respond to.

Blueprint is the largest study of drug education that has ever been performed in the UK, involving 3, 000 young people. The scale of the project has been set to tell us whether we can adopt, sustain and derive benefits from an evidence-based programme.

Very few areas are able to host a research programme of this size. Our chosen areas were identified as having a sufficient concentration of schools to support a large study. The specific schools involved support the whole school approach under the National Healthy School Standard, and are all secondary rather than middle schools to allow us to follow-up a group of young people throughout their early teenage years.

We want to be sure that any new approach has been fully tested and refined before we advise all schools about the results. We are basing the Drug Strategy on evidence of what works.

Young people need to know about the range of consequences of drug use. Most consequences experienced by the age group of general youth in Blueprint will be social consequences of using tobacco, alcohol, cigarettes and some illegal drugs such as cannabis. Therefore Blueprint will focus on the most common consequences rather than the most extreme.

We are following a large group of young people through their early teenage years to ensure that the programme meets their needs over time and has effects that are sustainable.

That question will be addressed at the end of the study by a very careful consideration of costs and benefits, taking into account a range of findings that includes the views of teachers, parents and young people.