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Excluded and Ignored: The gaps and failings in
research on youth drug use and the
implications for harm reduction
Maria Phelan
International Harm Reduction Association
Introduction
• Examine what we know about Youth drug use
• Examine methodology used to capture this
data
• Impact ‘War on Drugs’ Discourse
What we know about youth drug use
• High levels of Cannabis use
• Increase in ecstasy and amphetamine use
• Cocaine use rarer – but on the rise
Limited and incomplete data
• Incomplete global picture
• Incomparable data
• Focus on frequency rather than harm
School based surveys
Benefits
• Cost effective
• Large numbers of participants
• Comparable data
Limitations
• Practicality
• Provide a ‘big picture’
• Depersonalisation
Alternative survey methods
• Street based surveys
• Harm reduction service providers
‘War on Drugs’
Recommendations
• Improve data collection from low and middle
income countries
• Ensure vulnerable young people are captured
in data collection methods
• Break the cycle of the ‘War on Drugs’ discouse
Acknowledgments
Cook, C & Fletcher, A (2011) Youth Drug-Use
Research and the Missing Pieces in the Puzzle:
How Can Researchers Support the Next
Generation of Harm-Reduction Approaches?
In D. Barrett (ed) Children of the drug war:
perspectives on the impact of drug policy on
young people. New York and Amsterdam,
International Debate Education Association,
iDebate press. May 2011 (Forthcoming)
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