The Drug Education Forum
The Drug Education Forum
Podcast Description
The Drug Education Forum brings together drug education providers, educators and practitioners from across the UK as a Community of Practice.
Visit us: https://drugeducationforum.org.uk/
We believe that every young person in the UK should have access to excellent, evidence-based, age-appropriate drug education, to enable them to make choices about drugs that are informed, independent and will prevent or reduce risk and harm.
The Drug Education Forum is led by the DSM Foundation, bringing together drug education providers, educators and practitioners from across the UK who are committed to ensuring this happens.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast emphasizes the importance of evidence-based drug education, airing episodes that delve into topics such as the challenges of misinformation in media, effective strategies for engaging young people, and the role of community in drug education. For instance, the inaugural episode covers navigating information overload and empowering educators and parents with collaborative resources.
The Drug Education Forum brings together drug education providers, educators and practitioners from across the UK as a Community of Practice.
Visit us: https://drugeducationforum.org.uk/
We believe that every young person in the UK should have access to excellent, evidence-based, age-appropriate drug education, to enable them to make choices about drugs that are informed, independent and will prevent or reduce risk and harm.
The Drug Education Forum is led by the DSM Foundation, bringing together drug education providers, educators and practitioners from across the UK who are committed to ensuring this happens.
In this episode, we sit down with Fiona Measham, Chair in Criminology at the University of Liverpool and founder of The Loop. Fiona is one of the most influential voices in harm reduction, with decades of research into MDMA, ketamine, and drug use at festivals.
We dive deep into the realities of today’s drug markets, the challenges of drug education, and the life-saving role of drug checking services in the UK.
👉 Check out Fiona’s work with The Loop: https://wearetheloop.org/
👉 Find out more about the Drug Education Forum: https://drugeducationforum.com/
If you enjoy this episode, please like, subscribe, and share to help more people find these important conversations.
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Timestamps:
01:10 – Introduction to Fiona Measham
01:20 – Fiona’s impact in harm reduction
01:37 – The Loop & Drug Education Forum
02:02 – The changing price and strength of MDMA
03:28 – Accessibility, cost of alcohol, and why MDMA is cheaper
04:27 – Risks of pill strength and unknown contents
05:09 – Deaths rising despite stable prevalence
06:06 – Why education about dose and tolerance matters
07:25 – Drug checking as a healthcare service
08:39 – Interactions with prescription medication
09:41 – Why young people stop meds before festivals
11:16 – Evidence-based, believable drug education
12:20 – The failures of school drug education
13:21 – Alcohol trends, social media, and health focus
15:02 – Ketamine’s cultural shift from counter-culture to mainstream
18:22 – Daily dependent use, health harms, and deprivation
19:10 – Trauma, Covid, and self-medication
21:00 – The need for more harm reduction funding
22:09 – Reclassifying ketamine: deterrence vs. unintended consequences
23:31 – Cocaine markets and purity
27:02 – Shifts from cannabis to ketamine in schools
28:09 – From subcultures to Spotify generation
31:15 – Drug checking licences in the UK
33:24 – Why festivals are a key space for engagement
35:03 – Preventable deaths and the importance of alerts
36:33 – Drug checking as the “canary in the coal mine”
39:45 – What happens in a drug checking consultation
41:23 – Peer networks and cascading information
45:13 – Where harm reduction education should happen
46:03 – Festivals vs. clubbing and Ibiza holidays
48:44 – Dogs and drug detection debates
50:57 – Closing thoughts + subscribe reminder
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