The results of this study support the use of harm reduction goals and classroom approaches in school drug education.

Research has created a progressively better understanding of how to optimize programme effectiveness and what can be achieved realistically by even the most effective programmes. However, further research is required to identify which, if any, particular approach offers greater promise. The effectiveness of harm reduction should be compared with more traditional abstinence and the additional effects of whole of school, parent and community elements need to be measured more accurately. Contemporary social influence prevention programmes are flawed, but the approach is still the best way of influencing drug use behaviour in young people as a whole. Evidence-based refinement is the best option for greater benefit.

Results from phase one of the SHAHRP study suggest that classroom-based alcohol education programmemes can reduce harm, particularly in students who are supervised drinkers prior to the intervention.

here has been considerable academic and media interest in recent times in T the allegedly beneficial effects of specific varieties of alcoholic drinks. A study published in The Lancet in 1995' purported to demonstrate that wine drinkers lived longer than beer or spirit drinkers, even when potentially confounding sociodemographic factors were allowed for. Laboratory studies have indicated that red rather than white wine contains ingredients (clearly not alcohol) which are effective in reducing blood lipoprotein levels? Other studies have found that red grape juice is equally efficacious in this regard.3There are considerable demographic and behavioural differences between persons who consume different beverages that may also account for such findings. Wine drinkers are more likely to be older, female, educated, affluent, to drink socially at private homes, drink less frequently and less per occasion than beer or spirit drinker^.^,^ They are also more likely to be healthy6 and less likely to drink and drive.5 It is hard, therefore, to sustain the argument that the apparently beneficial effects of wine consumption are solely explicable by a biological mechanism. This is particularly so considering recent evidence that health benefits are more likely to be conferred on drinkers who space out their drinks over the week rather than binge.' The former pattern is more usual among wine drinkers and the latter among beer and spirit drinkers5 (It is unclear whether these drinking patterns apply to both consumers of bottled wine and cask wine, a central distinction for the present paper.) A recent review of ecological, case-control and cohort studies contrasting the different alcoholic beveragesu concluded that the beneficial effects of alcohol are not peculiar to, or more marked in, any particular beverage variety.The debate about whether wine should be regarded as, in essence, a health drink has taken on particular significance in Australia since early 1994 when a national inquiry was AbstractObjective: To determine whether population levels of consumption of some alcoholic beverages are more closely associated with levels of harm than others, particularly if consumption of cask wine is more strongly related to rates of acute alcohol problems than consumption of bottled wine as a consequence of the extremely low rates of federal tax levied on the former. Method: A database of alcohol consumption and related problems was established for 130 areas of Western Australia. Demographic and economic data for these areas were included from the 1991 census. Empirically derived assumptions regarding the mean wholesale price of cask and bottled wine were utilised. Regression analyses examined the extent to which the consumption of different alcoholic beverages predicted levels of major varieties of harm. Results: Only cask wine and high-strength beer consumption were significantly associated with rates of night-time assault; consumption of all beverage varieties except bottled wine was significantly associated with rates of acute alc...

This study identifies the conceptual underpinnings of effective school-based drug education practice in light of contemporary research evidence and the practical experience of a broad range of drug education stakeholders. The research involved a review of the literature, a national survey of 210 Australian teachers and others involved in drug education, and structured interviews with 22 key Australian drug education policy stakeholders. The findings from this research have been distilled and presented as a list of 16 principles that underpin effective drug education. In broad terms, drug education should be evidence-based, developmentally appropriate, sequential, and contextual. Programs should be initiated before drug use commences. Strategies should be linked to goals and should incorporate harm minimization. Teaching should be interactive and use peer leaders. The role of the classroom teacher is central. Certain program content is important, as is social and resistance skills training. Community values, the social context of use, and the nature of drug harm have to be addressed. Coverage needs to be adequate and supported by follow-up. It is envisaged that these principles will provide all those involved in the drug education field with a set of up-to-date, research-based guidelines against which to reference decisions on program design, selection, implementation, and evaluation.