Many parents are not aware of the potential for use of household products other than glue, so information needs to be targeted at then. In 1992 an information campaign by the UK Department of Health provided parents with basic facts about volatile substances via a nationally distributed booklet. Post-campaign research indicated increased parental awareness of VSA, and some evidence that parents had discussed VSA with their children as a result of the campaign, although these conversations had generally been short and unsophisticated (Wheeler F 1996 ‘A Campaign for Parents: an illustrative example of how to reach this audience’ in: European Drug Prevention Week 1994 The Seminars A compilation of the presentations Koln: Bundeszentrale fur Gesundheitliches Aufklarung, pages 249-251).

Subsequently, attempts have been made to use public campaigns to improve the quality of the parents’ conversations. A UK educational campaign early in 1994 stressed how important it was for parents to talk with, and listen to, their children. The leaflet for parents, Drugs and Solvents: You and Your Child, exhorted: ‘If you don’t talk to your child about drugs, someone else will’.

A freephone National Drugs Helpline, funded by government, has been established. It is reported that two per cent of its calls concern volatile substances. National voluntary agencies have also been active in providing information for parents.

The transfer of the drugs and volatile substances advertising budget from the UK Department of Health to the Health Education Authority (HEA) signalled renewed concentration on raising parents’ basic awareness of the problem. The HEA’s 1996 campaign of advertisements in popular consumer magazines had the slogans: ‘What killed more teenagers than heroin in the UK last year?’, accompanied by a picture of a syringe transforming into an aerosol, and: ‘How harmful could gases, glues and aerosols be to your teenager?’, accompanied by a picture of bullets transforming into aerosols.

One objection to campaigns like these is that the focus on parents is unhelpful. Public education campaigns, it is argued, should aim to address issues faced by young people and their families in today’s complex society. The programme of the Federal Centre for Health Education (FCHE) in Germany deliberately avoided addressing parents alone. Instead, its advertising campaign was directed towards all adults in contact with children and young people, and did not provide information about drugs or solvents, but sought to increase understanding of young people’s motivations for using them. As the FCHE point out: ‘Neither shock nor accusation is used in the advertisement texts or pictures. Rather, they try to show understanding for the fact that the demands placed on the target groups are tough ones’.

The UK Department of Health, and more recently the HEA, have also targeted advertising at young people and provided free information booklets. The booklet for teenagers gives non-judgmental information about various illegal drugs, while for pre-teens a cartoon story gives the message that it is risky to put powerful chemicals into one’s body.

But it is in schools that the UK has invested much effort. A government report on education (ACMD 1993 Drug Education in School: the need for new impetus HMSO) presaged a document of guidance from the Department for Education (Department for Education 1995 Drug prevention and schools) informing schools of the requirements of the National Curriculum and giving advice on other aspects (including dealing with drug-related incidents in school). This guidance made specific reference to volatile substances. Grants for education and training of teachers in drug and volatile substance education have been distributed.

Drugs education in the UK comes within ‘Personal, Social and Health Education’ (PSHE). At its best, it is part of an approach that stresses healthy living, self-esteem and making responsible choices. As the ACMD put it: ‘drug education is more likely to have an impact when it teaches decision-making and life-skills rather than relying on a didactic approach.’ It is also integrated with other potentially problematic issues such as healthy eating, bullying and use and road safety. It also incorporates alcohol education and education about smoking tobacco. However, some material focuses specifically on volatile substances. See Publications

Starting education about volatile substances early is essential because these products are in most people’s homes and therefore (unlike illegal drugs) very young children have access to them. Education about volatile substances should be part of first-school education concerned with living safely.

School-based education is the main vehicle for communicating information about drugs and volatile substances. But there are two problems. Firstly, even when drug education is delivered in schools, education about VSA is often forgotten; as the NIDA monograph puts it:

A WHO review found that the life skills approach had the best chance of success. A WHO report defined ‘Life Skills’ as:

Life skills’ education covers many other topics as well as drug education. In the UK, the charity, Tacde , takes a life skills’ approach to drug education. In Belgium the organisation, De Sleutel, produces material and delivers life-skills based training to teachers.