Drugs Workshops: From Awareness on Alcohol, Vaping, Legal Highs, Substance Abuse
Drugs Workshops are a vital part of effective drugs education and safeguarding practice in schools, colleges and youth settings. As drugs and substance use can become normalised within parts of youth culture, there is a growing need for structured, credible Drugs Workshops that address both Drugs and Alcohol Awareness and the wider cultural influences shaping behaviour. From alcohol, vaping and cannabis to nitrous oxide, MDMA, cocaine, ketamine and prescription medication misuse, substances are now embedded in youth culture through social media, music, nightlife and online access. Drugs Workshops provide an essential opportunity to challenge misinformation and deliver clear, age appropriate drugs education.
The reality behind substance use is far more serious than it is often portrayed. What may begin as experimentation, curiosity or peer pressure can quickly escalate into dependency, declining mental health and high risk behaviour. Schools and colleges are seeing the consequences through reduced concentration, poor attendance, falling attainment and disengagement from learning. In more serious cases, substance use is closely linked to safeguarding concerns, including exploitation, County Lines involvement, sexual harm, criminalisation and increased vulnerability when judgement is impaired. Drugs Workshops place these risks into context and help young people understand how quickly situations can escalate.
Drugs Workshops delivered by 2020 Dreams form part of a wider Drugs and Alcohol Awareness approach, addressing the substances most commonly affecting young people today. Vaping is explored in detail, including nicotine addiction, long term health risks and the deliberate targeting of young people through branding and online trends. Alcohol use is examined in relation to social pressure, impaired decision making, personal safety and consent. Cannabis is discussed with a focus on motivation, memory, anxiety and paranoia, particularly its impact on adolescent brain development. Nitrous oxide is addressed as a substance often dismissed as low risk, despite increasing evidence of neurological harm. Party drugs such as MDMA and ketamine are explored within the context of festivals, raves and nightlife, where risks around dosage, mixing substances and unsafe environments are frequently underestimated. Prescription drug misuse, including benzodiazepines, opioid painkillers and ADHD medication, is covered alongside the growing risk of counterfeit medicines obtained outside regulated healthcare.
Our Drugs Workshops go beyond outdated scare tactics and one dimensional messaging. These sessions are designed as interactive Drugs Education workshops that reflect the realities young people face. They explore why substances can feel appealing, how social and cultural pressures influence choices, and the short and long term consequences that are often overlooked. Students are encouraged to consider the impact of drugs and alcohol on health, relationships, safeguarding, education and future opportunities. Linked themes such as peer pressure, consent, exploitation, criminal responsibility and mental health are embedded throughout, ensuring a joined up approach to prevention.
For schools, colleges and safeguarding leads, Drugs Workshops provide practical support in meeting statutory PSHE, RSE and safeguarding requirements. They contribute directly to Drugs and Alcohol Awareness objectives, early intervention strategies and whole school approaches to wellbeing. Staff benefit from up to date insight into emerging trends, language and risks, alongside practical guidance on supporting students who may be vulnerable or already affected by substance use.
Drugs use among young people is not solely a health issue. It is a safeguarding, educational and cultural issue that intersects with exploitation, violence, inequality and long term harm. When substance use becomes normalised, the risks increase and the consequences extend far beyond the classroom. Well structured Drugs Workshops play a critical role in challenging harmful narratives, strengthening protective factors and supporting informed decision making.
Our Drugs Workshops for schools, colleges and youth organisations offer a comprehensive approach to Drugs Education and Drugs and Alcohol Awareness. They create a safe, informed space for young people to question myths, understand real risks and develop the confidence to make safer choices. Early, credible intervention is key, and these Drugs Workshops are designed to deliver meaningful, lasting impact.
Drugs Workshops Overview
Drugs and Alcohol Workshops by 2020 Dreams
Our Drugs and Alcohol Workshops are tailored to different audiences, from young children to adults. We use interactive activities and open forum discussions to help participants learn about the truth about drugs and alcohol, including what they are, how they work, why people become dependent, and their link with crime and wider social problems.
Drug and alcohol abuse can have serious consequences for individuals, families and communities. It is important to educate young people about the risks of drug and alcohol use so that they can make informed decisions about their own health and safety.
Our workshops are designed to be informative and engaging. We use role-play, discussion, scenario work and presentations to help participants understand the risks of drug and alcohol misuse. We also provide information on where to get help if they or someone they know is struggling with dependency or harmful substance use.
Topics We Cover
- The effects of drugs and alcohol on the body and mind
- The risks of addiction and dependency
- The link between drug and alcohol abuse and crime
- The impact of drug and alcohol abuse on families and communities
- Peer pressure and how to make independent decisions
- How to get help for yourself or somebody else
Core Features of Our Drugs Workshops for Schools
- Current drug and alcohol education based on UK evidence rather than outdated statistics
- Age-appropriate coverage of legal and illegal substances
- Alcohol, cannabis, ketamine, cocaine, MDMA, nitrous oxide, vaping and prescription medicine misuse
- Counterfeit medicines, synthetic opioids, synthetic cannabinoids and unknown substances
- Drug classifications and current UK law explained accurately
- Peer pressure, social influence, nightlife, festivals and online supply
- Drug use, consent, vulnerability and personal safety
- County Lines, criminal exploitation and drug debt where relevant
- Mental health, coping, self-medication and dependency
- Emergency awareness and knowing when to get adult or medical help
Why Drugs Education Still Matters for Young People
Drug use among young people is not one simple trend. Some substances have become less common, others remain established, and particular risks can change quickly because of new products, different strengths, online markets and adulteration.
The latest Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated that 15.1% of 16–24-year-olds used at least one illicit drug in the year ending March 2025. Cannabis remained the most commonly used drug in this age group, while ketamine continues to be a significant concern despite remaining much less prevalent than cannabis.
For school-age pupils, the latest published NHS England survey remains the 2023 Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use survey. It found that 13% of pupils aged mainly 11–15 had ever taken drugs and 5% had taken drugs in the previous month. Fieldwork for the next survey took place during 2025–26, with publication scheduled for autumn 2026.
This is why credible Drug Awareness Workshops should neither imply that “everyone takes drugs” nor pretend the issue is rare. Good prevention corrects exaggerated peer norms while still addressing the minority of young people who may already be experimenting, using regularly or experiencing harm.
Young People and Drugs: Current UK Evidence
School pupils had tried drugs
The latest published NHS school survey found 13% of pupils in years 7–11 had ever taken drugs.
Used drugs in the last month
Five per cent of pupils reported drug use in the previous month, rising with age.
16–24-year-olds
ONS estimated 15.1% of 16–24-year-olds used an illicit drug in the previous year in YE March 2025.
Cannabis use
Cannabis remained the most commonly reported illicit drug among 16–24-year-olds in the ONS survey.
The same ONS release estimated ketamine use among 16–24-year-olds at 2.0%, ecstasy at 1.9% and nitrous oxide at 1.3% in the year ending March 2025. These percentages should be understood in context: prevalence is not the same thing as harm, and a less commonly used substance can still create serious individual risk.
The following interactive elements are built specifically into our Drugs Workshops so the programme does not feel like a generic drugs presentation. They give pupils practical ways to analyse risk, challenge assumptions and respond to real-world situations while keeping the central focus on credible drugs education.
Drug Risk Equation in Our Drugs Workshops: Why the Drug Name Is Only Part of the Story
A distinctive feature of our Drugs Workshops is the Drug Risk Equation. Students learn that risk cannot be judged from a substance name alone. The same substance can create very different outcomes depending on strength, combinations, the individual and the environment.
What is actually being taken?
How concentrated, potent or unpredictable is it?
Has it been combined with alcohol, medicines or other drugs?
Age, health, medication, tolerance and mental state matter.
Heat, water, driving, crowds, strangers and isolation can increase danger.
This approach helps pupils move beyond simplistic ideas such as “this drug is safe” or “that drug is dangerous”. No illicit drug can be made risk-free, and unknown strength or composition can make apparently familiar products unpredictable.
Unknown Substance Audit in Drugs Workshops: What Is Actually in It?
A tablet, powder, vape or medicine bought through an informal or illegal source may not contain what the buyer expects. Our Drug Education Workshops use an Unknown Substance Audit to challenge confidence based only on appearance, packaging or what somebody else says.
The Branded Tablet
A pill has a familiar logo and somebody says they have taken the same one before.
Audit question: Does a logo prove what chemical is inside or how strong the tablet is?
The “Prescription” Pill
A tablet is sold online as a familiar anxiety or pain medicine but did not come from a regulated pharmacy.
Audit question: What evidence is there that it contains the medicine, dose or ingredients printed on the pack?
The THC Vape
A young person is offered a vape said to contain cannabis or THC.
Audit question: Could it contain a synthetic cannabinoid or another substance instead of what the seller claims?
The Unknown Powder
A powder changes hands several times before reaching the person who plans to use it.
Audit question: How much genuine information survives that chain about purity, strength or contamination?
Drug Decision Lab in Our Drugs Workshops: When the Situation Changes Faster Than the Plan
Our Drug Decision Lab uses realistic situations rather than asking pupils only whether drugs are “good” or “bad”. The focus is on judgement, safeguarding and recognising when a situation is becoming more dangerous.
The Party Mix
Somebody has already been drinking and is offered another substance because friends say the combination will make the night better.
Workshop question: How does mixing substances make effects and risk harder to predict?
The Friend Who Is Not Right
A friend becomes confused, very drowsy or seriously unwell after taking something and others are worried about getting into trouble.
Workshop question: At what point does protecting a life matter more than embarrassment or consequences?
The Free First Favour
An older person offers free cannabis, vapes, money or lifts and later asks the young person to carry something as a favour.
Workshop question: When does generosity become grooming, debt and criminal exploitation?
“It’s Only Once”
A young person has decided not to use drugs but does not want to be the only person in the group refusing.
Workshop question: What responses protect the relationship without giving the group control over the decision?
What Our Drugs and Alcohol Workshops Cover
Each Drugs and Alcohol Workshop is tailored around age, setting and current need. Schools can choose broad drugs education or prioritise particular substances, peer pressure, exploitation, nightlife, mental health, staff training or local trends.
Cannabis, THC and Cannabis Edibles
Cannabis remains the most commonly reported illicit drug among young adults in England and Wales. Workshops avoid presenting every cannabis experience as identical and instead focus on potency, frequency, mental health, impairment and context.
🔹 THC and psychoactive effects
🔹 Cannabis strength and variability
🔹 Memory, attention and judgement
🔹 Anxiety and paranoia
🔹 Cannabis and mental health risk
🔹 Edibles and delayed effects
🔹 Driving and impairment
🔹 Class B legal status
Ketamine: Rising Harm, Bladder Damage and Dependency
Ketamine is a legitimate anaesthetic medicine but recreational misuse can cause serious harm. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs completed a major updated review in January 2026 and recommended that ketamine should remain a Class B controlled drug.
The review highlighted increasing use and harm among young people, including urinary and bladder damage. Government health messaging has also focused on the possibility of severe and potentially irreversible bladder problems associated with repeated ketamine use.
🔹 Dissociation and impaired awareness
🔹 Accidents and vulnerability
🔹 Ketamine-related bladder and urinary harm
🔹 Tolerance and dependence
🔹 Mixing with alcohol or other depressant drugs
🔹 Why medical use does not make recreational use safe
🔹 Current Class B classification
Nitrous Oxide, Balloons and Neurological Risk
Nitrous oxide is sometimes dismissed as a “party gas” because it also has legitimate medical and industrial uses. Recreational use can nevertheless cause serious harm, particularly with heavy or repeated exposure.
Since 8 November 2023, nitrous oxide has been controlled as a Class C drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act where possession is, or is likely to be, for wrongful inhalation.
🔹 Dizziness and loss of coordination
🔹 Loss of consciousness
🔹 Oxygen-related risk
🔹 Vitamin B12 inactivation and neurological damage with repeated heavy use
🔹 Balloons, canisters and social normalisation
🔹 Driving and impaired judgement
🔹 Current Class C law
MDMA / Ecstasy and Nightlife Risk
MDMA Workshops within the wider drugs programme examine how strength, heat, hydration, other substances and the environment can influence risk.
🔹 Tablets and powders may vary in composition and strength
🔹 Overheating and dehydration
🔹 Excessive water intake can also be dangerous
🔹 Mixing substances
🔹 Impaired judgement and vulnerability
🔹 Festivals, clubs and crowded environments
🔹 Class A legal status
Cocaine and Stimulant Use
Cocaine is a Class A stimulant. Workshops examine the gap between its social image and the risks associated with cardiovascular stress, impaired judgement, repeated dosing, dependency and mixing with alcohol.
🔹 Stimulation and confidence
🔹 Heart and circulation risks
🔹 Anxiety, agitation and paranoia
🔹 Repeated use during a night out
🔹 Alcohol and polysubstance use
🔹 Financial impact and dependency
🔹 Class A possession and supply offences
Alcohol, Intoxication, Consent and Personal Safety
Alcohol is legal for adults but can still create serious health and safeguarding risks. Workshops examine the way intoxication affects coordination, inhibition, memory, risk perception, conflict and sexual decision making.
🔹 Units and intoxication
🔹 Binge drinking
🔹 Impaired judgement
🔹 Consent and capacity
🔹 Violence and conflict
🔹 Travel and personal safety
🔹 Alcohol poisoning
🔹 Under-18 alcohol law
For older pupils, alcohol content can also be combined with our Healthy Relationships, Consent or Spiking education.
Prescription Medicines, Benzodiazepines and Counterfeit Pills
A medicine being legitimate in healthcare does not mean it is safe to take without a prescription, at an unknown dose or in combination with other substances.
🔹 Benzodiazepines and sedating medicines
🔹 Painkillers and opioid medicines
🔹 ADHD medicines and stimulants
🔹 Medicines prescribed for one person should not be shared
🔹 Counterfeit tablets sold online
🔹 Unknown doses and ingredients
🔹 Mixing sedating drugs with alcohol
🔹 Dependence and withdrawal
Synthetic Opioids, Nitazenes and Counterfeit Medicines
The drug market can change faster than a textbook. Current government warnings include the risk of highly potent synthetic opioids such as nitazenes appearing in counterfeit medicines obtained outside legitimate healthcare routes.
Pupils do not need detailed chemistry. The safeguarding message is more useful: a tablet bought informally or online may not contain what it claims, and apparently familiar packaging does not guarantee pharmaceutical quality.
🔹 Counterfeit medicines
🔹 Synthetic opioid contamination
🔹 Very small quantities can create serious risk
🔹 Buying outside regulated pharmacies
🔹 Never assuming packaging proves contents
🔹 Getting emergency help when someone is seriously unwell
THC Vapes, Synthetic Cannabinoids and Spice
Government health campaigns have warned that some products sold as “THC vapes” have contained potent synthetic cannabinoids rather than the cannabis product users expected.
🔹 THC versus synthetic cannabinoids
🔹 Unknown liquids and informal supply
🔹 Unpredictable potency
🔹 Severe anxiety, agitation or loss of consciousness
🔹 Why appearance cannot verify contents
🔹 School safeguarding where unknown vapes are circulating
For nicotine-specific education, see our Vaping Workshops.
Drugs, Mental Health and Self-Medication
Some young people describe using alcohol or drugs to relax, sleep, escape anxiety, manage trauma or feel more confident socially. Workshops acknowledge the underlying need while questioning whether the substance is creating additional problems.
🔹 Stress and anxiety
🔹 Low mood and isolation
🔹 Trauma and difficult experiences
🔹 Sleep
🔹 Social confidence
🔹 Temporary relief versus longer-term consequences
🔹 Healthier coping and support routes
🔹 When substance use may need specialist help
Drugs, County Lines and Criminal Exploitation
Drug education also has a safeguarding dimension. Some young people are groomed to hold, transport or sell drugs through County Lines and local drug networks.
🔹 Free gifts, money, lifts and status
🔹 Small favours escalating into larger demands
🔹 Drug debt
🔹 Threats and violence
🔹 Carrying packages or money
🔹 Going missing or travelling unexpectedly
🔹 Fear of asking adults for help
🔹 Safe routes out and safeguarding support
Schools requiring greater depth can combine this programme with our County Lines Workshops.
SCOPE Risk Check in Our Drugs Workshops
Our SCOPE Risk Check gives older pupils a practical framework for analysing risk without implying that following a checklist can make illegal drug use safe.
Street names, logos, colours and packaging are not laboratory identification.
Potency and dose can vary significantly between products, batches and forms.
Alcohol, medicines and other drugs can alter effects and increase unpredictability.
Age, body, health conditions, prescribed medication, tolerance and emotional state can affect risk.
Driving, water, heat, crowds, unfamiliar places, conflict or being alone can make an already risky situation more dangerous.
SCOPE is a risk-awareness tool, not a safe-use guarantee. The lowest-risk option for an illicit or unknown drug is not to take it. The framework exists because students need to understand why real-life risk is more complicated than a drug name on a slide.
Drug Emergency Awareness in Drugs Workshops: When to Get Help
Young people sometimes delay getting help because they are frightened of parents, school consequences or police involvement. Workshops reinforce that a serious medical situation needs medical help.
Call 999 for a life-threatening emergency
NHS guidance says emergency help is required if someone has lost consciousness, stopped breathing, has severe difficulty breathing or is having a seizure. If poisoning or an overdose may be involved, tell emergency services what is known about the substance and stay with the person.
Do not leave a seriously unwell person alone because you are worried about consequences.
Workshops can include age-appropriate emergency awareness but do not replace accredited first-aid training or professional medical advice.
Drugs Education and the 2026 RSHE / Health Education Requirements
The revised statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education guidance is for introduction from 1 September 2026. Drugs, alcohol and tobacco remain part of compulsory Health Education in state-funded primary and secondary schools in England.
At primary level, pupils should know the facts about legal and illegal harmful substances and their associated risks, including smoking, alcohol and drug-taking.
At secondary level, pupils should know the facts about legal and illegal drugs, associated health risks, links with serious mental health conditions, the law relating to supply and possession, alcohol risks, addiction and the dangers of medicines that are prescribed but still carry serious health risks.
The secondary RSE curriculum also links alcohol and drugs to risky sexual behaviour, making substance education relevant to consent, vulnerability and personal safety as well as physical health.
Curriculum support: 2020 Dreams workshops can enhance curriculum delivery and staff confidence, but an external workshop does not replace the school’s responsibility for a planned, age-appropriate statutory curriculum and normal safeguarding procedures.
Drugs, Alcohol and the Law: Accurate 2026 Guidance
Drug law is often simplified incorrectly. Workshops explain the difference between possession, supply and lawful medical use without suggesting every case receives the maximum sentence.
Includes cocaine, crack cocaine, MDMA/ecstasy, heroin, LSD, magic mushrooms, methadone and methamphetamine. Maximum penalties depend on the offence; supply can carry a maximum of life imprisonment.
Includes cannabis, ketamine, amphetamines, synthetic cannabinoids, mephedrone and some controlled medicines. Ketamine remains Class B following the ACMD’s 2026 review.
Includes nitrous oxide when covered by the relevant misuse provisions, some benzodiazepines, anabolic steroids and other controlled substances.
Giving or sharing a controlled drug can amount to supply even where no money changes hands. Exact consequences depend on the facts and legal process.
Alcohol and Young People
It is illegal for someone under 18 to buy alcohol or for an adult to buy alcohol on their behalf. A 16- or 17-year-old accompanied by an adult may drink, but not buy, beer, wine or cider with a meal in licensed premises. It is illegal to give alcohol to a child under five.
School policy may be stricter than the criminal law, and organisations should distinguish school sanctions from legal offences when teaching pupils.
2026 Emerging Drug Risks Covered in Our Drugs Workshops
Drug education dates quickly. A useful programme must distinguish established substances from emerging market risks without making every new warning sound like a national epidemic.
Ketamine
The 2026 ACMD review highlighted increasing young-person harms, particularly bladder and urinary damage, while recommending ketamine remain Class B.
Counterfeit Medicines
Pills bought outside regulated healthcare may contain different ingredients or highly potent synthetic opioids rather than the medicine expected.
THC / Unknown Vapes
Some illicit products sold as THC vapes have been reported to contain synthetic cannabinoids, creating unpredictable health and safeguarding risks.
Drugs Workshops Staff Training for Schools and Professionals
Alongside pupil sessions, Drugs Staff Training is available for teachers, designated safeguarding leads, pastoral teams, senior leaders, FE/HE staff, youth workers, social care teams and other professionals.
Staff training can focus on:
🔹 Current drug trends and terminology
🔹 Cannabis, ketamine, nitrous oxide and cocaine
🔹 Counterfeit medicines and synthetic opioids
🔹 THC vapes and synthetic cannabinoids
🔹 Alcohol, consent and vulnerability
🔹 Drug classifications and current law
🔹 Recognising dependency and escalating harm
🔹 Responding to disclosures
🔹 County Lines and criminal exploitation
🔹 School policy versus criminal law
🔹 Emergency awareness
🔹 Embedding drug education within the 2026 Health Education curriculum
Training can be delivered as a standalone CPD session or incorporated into a wider Staff Training.
Drugs Workshops for Different Age Groups
Our Drugs and Alcohol Workshops are tailored to different educational stages so that age-appropriate, relevant and nuanced discussions take place at each level. Primary sessions establish a foundation for understanding peer pressure and healthy decision making. As pupils move into secondary school, the emphasis develops towards drug classifications, emerging substances, County Lines, mental health and more complex peer influence. Sixth-form, college and university programmes can explore legal responsibility, nightlife, harm, consent and independent decision making in greater depth.
Drugs Workshops for Primary Schools
Primary sessions focus on medicines, harmful substances, trusted adults, peer pressure, safe choices, vaping awareness and why children should never take an unknown substance.
Aims: foundational health knowledge, safe decision making, confidence saying no and understanding when to tell a trusted adult.
Drugs Workshops for Secondary Schools, KS3 and KS4
Secondary sessions explore cannabis, ketamine, MDMA, cocaine, nitrous oxide, vaping, alcohol, peer pressure, law, mental health, unknown substances and exploitation.
Aims: accurate risk perception, independent decision making, safeguarding awareness and confidence seeking support.
Drug & Alcohol Workshops for Sixth Forms and Colleges
Post-16 sessions can take a more mature approach to nightlife, festivals, alcohol, mixing substances, consent, driving, counterfeit drugs, ketamine, dependency, finances and the law.
Aims: mature decision making, emergency awareness, legal understanding, safer social choices and early support where use is becoming problematic.
Drugs Workshops for Universities and Adult Learners
University programmes can support Freshers Week, student wellbeing, nightlife safety, consent campaigns, substance awareness, professional training and staff development.
Aims: independence, informed adult choices, safeguarding, emergency response, consent and knowing when recreational use is becoming harmful.
Drugs Workshops for SEND, SEMH, PRUs and Alternative Provision
Drugs Workshops can be adapted for SEND, SEMH, PRUs and alternative provision through shorter activities, clearer language, visual prompts, repetition and concrete scenarios.
Some learners may benefit from explicit teaching around unknown substances, medicine safety, peer pressure, drug debt, exploitation, cravings and trusted-adult routes. Delivery is adapted to communication need without assuming that additional needs automatically mean greater substance use.
Benefits of Drugs Workshops for Schools and Colleges
Uses current ONS, NHS and government information rather than old statistics or exaggerated claims.
Students examine peer pressure, unknown substances, setting, mixing and changing circumstances rather than memorising a drug list.
Covers legal and illegal drugs, alcohol, addiction, prescribed medicines, associated risk and current law.
Links substance use with consent, vulnerability, exploitation, County Lines, unknown products and emergency awareness.
Young people who have already experimented can still engage, reflect and seek help without being publicly labelled.
Student workshops can be combined with staff CPD, parent awareness and related safeguarding programmes.
How We Deliver Drugs Workshops
Pupils work through realistic situations involving parties, peer pressure, unknown substances, emergencies and exploitation.
Students learn that substance, strength, mixing, person and setting can all influence outcomes.
Scenarios challenge assumptions based on logos, packaging, online descriptions, pills and informal supply.
Older pupils use Substance, Concentration, Other substances, Person and Environment to examine why risk changes.
We do not rely on graphic imagery, extreme anecdotes or claims that every experiment inevitably becomes addiction.
Content can respond to a particular year group, school trend, local substance, incident or safeguarding priority.
Face-to-face delivery is available across the UK with online options for UK and international organisations.
Related Drugs Workshops, Vaping and Safeguarding Programmes
Drug use can overlap with vaping, peer pressure, exploitation, mental health and personal safety. Build a wider prevention programme with related 2020 Dreams workshops.
Vaping Workshops
Nicotine, dependence, peer pressure, health, disposable-vape law and quitting support.
Legal Highs / NPS Workshops
Synthetic cannabinoids, psychoactive substances, nitrous oxide, unknown products and changing drug markets.
Peer Pressure Workshops
Belonging, social pressure, refusal skills, confidence and independent decision making.
County Lines Workshops
Drug trafficking, grooming, debt, criminal exploitation, violence and safe routes out.
Addiction Workshops
Dependency, reward, cravings, behavioural and substance addictions, coping and support.
Mental Health Workshops
Stress, emotional regulation, coping, resilience, help-seeking and healthier strategies.
Drugs Workshops FAQ
Book Drugs Workshops for Your School, College or Organisation
Ready to bring Drugs Workshops to your school, college, university or organisation? Tell us the age group, number of participants, preferred dates, location and the substances or safeguarding concerns you would most like the programme to address.
We can deliver a standalone Drugs and Alcohol Awareness Workshop, targeted sessions around a particular substance, staff training or a wider programme combining drugs education with vaping, peer pressure, County Lines, addiction and mental wellbeing.
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Drugs, Alcohol and Substance Education References
Our Drugs Workshops draw on current statutory guidance, official statistics, NHS information and UK drug-policy sources:
- Office for National Statistics – Drug Misuse in England and Wales: Year Ending March 2025 – latest ONS prevalence data for 16–24 and 16–59-year-olds, including cannabis, ketamine, ecstasy and nitrous oxide.
- NHS England Digital – Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Among Young People in England 2023 – latest published national school-pupil survey available in August 2026.
- Department for Education – Relationships Education, RSE and Health Education – statutory Health Education requirements including drugs, alcohol, tobacco, addiction, prescribed medicines and substance law.
- GOV.UK – Drugs Penalties – current classifications and maximum penalties for possession, supply and production.
- Home Office – Nitrous Oxide Ban – official guidance on nitrous oxide becoming a Class C controlled drug from 8 November 2023.
- Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs – Ketamine: Updated Review of Use and Harms 2026 – current evidence and recommendation that ketamine remain Class B.
- Department of Health and Social Care – Young People Drug Harms Campaign – current government warnings relating to ketamine, counterfeit medicines, synthetic opioids and adulterated THC vapes.
- GOV.UK – Alcohol and Young People – current law on buying, drinking and supplying alcohol to under-18s.
- NHS – Poisoning – emergency guidance on serious poisoning and when to call 999.
These sources support a balanced approach: accurate information, age-appropriate prevention, safeguarding, early help and clear emergency awareness without exaggerating prevalence or suggesting drug use can be made risk-free.