Drugs and Drugs Education Policy: What Counts as Evidence

Abstract

Drugs and drugs education policies are highly charged political topics. Despite its earlier commitment to evidence-based policy, in its final term of office the United Kingdom's former Labour government rejected evidence on the relative harm of some drugs and determined policy by dogma. This article provides an overview of these events and uses the work of Foucault and Baudrillard to consider them as instances of capricious government and of capricious perceptions of reality. It argues for the need to make explicit the truth claims of research if that research is to inform policy rather than be dismissed by policy makers. Although the arguments put forward here focus on drugs and drugs education policy, they are pertinent to all research engaging with the notions of power and education.