How do students see drug prevention in Hungarian schools?

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How do students see drug prevention in Hungarian schools?

12 July 2018
Peter Sarosi

An online study – conducted by Drugreporter – of more than 1100 Hungarian students revealed that there are serious problems with drug prevention in schools. It is provided mostly by police officers with outdated methods, focuses on scare tactics, and does not include much interaction with students.

An online questionnaire has been distributed (with the help of social media ads) among Hungarian young people who are attending high school or have finished secondary education within the last five years. There were 1133 valid responses. 95% of respondents were aged between 14 and 25 years, 50% of them girls. They represented all types of secondary education. Approximately one quarter of them went to school in Budapest.

According to the study, the most prevalent drug prevention delivery method used in Hungarian schools is lecturing (reported by 85% of respondents) and watching movies (32%). Interactive methods such as play/drama (10%) are much less prevalent, while personal (4%) or family (3%) counselling is a rarity. More than half of the students reported that the person who delivered the program was a police officer (54%), while only 42% of respondents reported other social professionals delivering the program.

We asked students to identify the subjects and themes of the drug prevention programs. The vast majority of programs focused on raising awareness of the dangers of drug use (82%), information about the types and effects of drugs (68%), raising awareness of the prohibition of substances (44%), and teaching students how to say no to drugs (40%). Only a minority of students reported programs on safer nightlife (30%), how to help other students with drug problems (27%), harm reduction (11%), or management of personal relations (9%).

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