DSM Foundation comments on the NHS Digital ‘Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England’ survey 2023, published today

Fiona Spargo-Mabbs, director and founding father of the medication education charity the DSM Foundation, comments: “It’s so encouraging to survey the numbers of 11-15 year olds in England who gain taken medication falling so greatly, after a steep upward trend from 2014 for the subsequent few years. It can most likely doubtless maybe be gargantuan to think this became once down to extra of them getting the drug education they need, nonetheless all of us know that the components at work in decisions about medication are very advanced, and our work as a drug education charity is intention from done.

“This information tells us that 44 per cent of 15 year olds had been supplied medication, and around one in four had mentioned yes a minimum of once, and we can gaze other trends of concern, equivalent to the increased employ of ketamine and magic mushrooms. It’s mandatory that every young person is conscious of easy find out how to handle decisions about medication safely when they reach around for them.

“Efficient, evidence-essentially essentially based drug education remains mandatory.”

Information for editors:

The DSM Foundation is a drug education charity established in 2014 following the dying of 16 year ragged Daniel Spargo-Mabbs from an unintended overdose of ecstasy. His family felt that he merely hadn’t identified sufficient with the intention to intention decisions that can doubtless maybe maintain him safe, and realized there became once a plentiful gap in the sources and reinforce accessible to colleges, so region up the charity in pronounce to spare other families going by intention of what they had experienced.

The goal of the DSM Foundation is to intention formative years with relevant, age-appropriate, up up to now and evidence-essentially essentially based information about medication so they intention the skills to intention selections that will maintain themselves and their mates as safe as that you may maybe maybe doubtless maybe doubtless also imagine. To this finish, the charity works in colleges, colleges and neighborhood organisations with children and formative years, and additionally affords workshops for fogeys and caregivers, and training for professionals working with formative years, eg. lecturers. Educational settings are additionally in a position to access “I Love You Mum, I Promise I Won’t Die”, a verbatim play by Tag Wheeller that became once commissioned by the charity to repeat Dan’s sage in the words of his family and mates, by intention of studying the work itself (usually attributable to it being a GCSE Drama region textual content on the Eduqas syllabus), or booking a Theatre in Education efficiency. Colleges and colleges can additionally download age-appropriate, relevant, up up to now and evidence-essentially essentially based medication education lesson sources freed from price from the DSM Foundation web content for offer by lecturers by intention of PSHE/PSE provision.

For extra information about the DSM Foundation, lunge to https://www.dsmfoundation.org.uk/.

Media enquiries about this press open or the work of the DSM Foundation ought to be despatched to media@dsmfoundation.org.uk.