Knowledge and experience of young people regarding drug abuse between 1969 and 1979

A trend survey carried out by anonymous questionnaire of the knowledge and experience of drug abuse among fourth-year pupils in three Wolverhampton secondary schools in 1969, 1974, and 1979 showed familiarity with the names of drugs, but that there continues to be considerable ignorance and misunderstanding about how drugs are taken and their dangers. Contact with drugs and drug-taking increased over the first five years, but this trend was not continued through to 1979. Television remained the most important source of information about drugs, while peer group and social pressures remained the most important reason for starting to take drugs. Effective preventive measures must include a health education programme that discusses decision-making processes and a wider view of "drugs in society".