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Guidelines for the Management of Incidents of Drug Misuse in Schools

Foreword

Scotland, like other countries round the world faces a serious drug problem. The Scottish Executive is determined to tackle it hard and head on. Tackling Drugs in Scotland, Action in Partnership, sets out the forward drug strategy for Scotland. The strategy has a number of objectives and action priorities for schools and other agencies with whom they work, with the key aims of helping young people resist drug misuse in order to achieve their full potential; protecting communities from drug-related anti-social and criminal behaviour; enabling people with drug problems to overcome them and live healthy and crime free lives; and stifling the availability of illegal drugs on our streets.

The majority of our children will go through their school life without being involved in any incident of drug misuse and many schools will be free from incidents involving drugs. However, where such incidents occur, ensuring the safety and welfare of all of the children is of paramount importance. It is vitally important for parents to know that procedures are in place in their children's schools to deal effectively with such incidents. All parents and pupils need to know that schools are well prepared for incidents of drug misuse.

Scotland's action priorities state that every school should provide appropriate drug education for all pupils in line with national and education authority advice and that every school and community education provider should have an effective welfare policy on the management of incidents of drug misuse. The Minister for Education set up the School Drug Safety Team to provide national guidelines for schools faced with the problems of drug misuse. These national guidelines identify quality standards for all Scottish schools and will help protect children from the risks posed by incidents of drug misuse. They are addressed to all schools to help them to respond to information, allegation or evidence that children are misusing drugs, or manage incidents involving drug misuse by parents of pupils at their schools.

Angus MacKay MSP Deputy Minister for Justice	Sam Galbraith MSP Minister for Children and Education

SCHOOL DRUG SAFETY TEAM MEMBERSHIP

Ken Corsar, Glasgow City Council, Chairman
Harry Black, Fife Primary Care NHS Trust
Christine Compton, Aberdeen City Council
William Crosbie, Castlebrae Community High School, Edinburgh
Barry Dougall, Strathclyde Police
Joan Forrest, University of Strathclyde
Beth McIntyre, Kirkland High School and Community College, Fife
Alistair Ramsay, Scotland Against Drugs
Raymond de Souza, City of Edinburgh Council
Harvey Stalker, HM Chief Inspector of Schools
Justine Walker, COSLA
Deirdre Watson, Scottish Child Law Centre
Ian Young, Health Education Board for Scotland

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

The Team would like to thank all those who contributed to the drafting of these guidelines, in particular the main authors: HMI Mrs Frances Corcoran, Jackie McRae, Social Work Services Inspectorate and members of the School Drug Safety Team Sub Committee.

Thanks are also extended to Local Authority Education Departments who provided accounts of their policies and to Harriet Dempster, Head of Children's Services, Dundee City Council.

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