Education on ‘legal highs’ urged in e-petition

An e-petition calling for effective drug education to be part of the National Curriculum has been added to the Government’s website. The campaign wants approved drug education and a separate drug department, similar to that in France.

The petition has been launched by Maryon Stewart and Vicky Unwin, who both lost daughters as a result of drug use.

Both are senior figures in the Angelus Foundation – which campaigns to highlight the dangers of “legal highs”, including alcohol. E-petitions can be considered for debate in Parliament if they get more than 100,000 signatures.

The petition says many legal highs and so-called club drugs are widely consumed by young people who regard them as safe because many are legal. It calls for effective drug education to be urgently added to school curriculums.

Writing in the Observer yesterday, Ms Unwin said: “On Wednesday March 2, 2011, our lives changed for ever.

“Our beloved 21-year-old daughter, Louise, who had everything to live for, drowned in her bath after taking an unintentional overdose of ketamine.

“She was not a regular drug user; she was a gregarious, popular, fun-loving girl who... achieved more in her 21 years than most of us do in a lifetime.

“When Louise died, I knew immediately that she would want me to stop others from losing their lives in such a stupid and pointless way. I owed it to her memory and I knew that she would live on through my actions.”

She said they decided to team up with the Amy Winehouse Foundation to launch a parents’ petition to lobby Government to make drug education part of the national curriculum.

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “Schools have a legal responsibility to promote pupils’ wellbeing – which should include setting out a clear drugs policy to prevent substance misuse.

“We published clear advice on drugs to schools last month setting out how they can address drug misuse – including giving accurate information through the FRANK campaign; working with charities and police to prevent it spreading; and providing pupils with clear information.”