The Drug Education Forum Summer will take place Thursday 19th June 2025 from 3.30 – 5.00 pm
Join us for this free summer Drug Education Forum event, which will provide another opportunity for drug education providers, practitioners and policy makers from across the UK to come together with a focus on the provision of excellent, evidence-based, age-appropriate drug education and harm reduction for young people.
Our keynote speaker is Prof Owen Bowden-Jones, consultant addiction psychiatrist at CNWL NHS Foundation Trust, Honorary Professor at University College London, Chair of ACMD. He will be presenting findings and recommendations from the ACMD Prevention Review 2025.
As usual, the event will also feature three short spotlights featuring Prof Chris Pudney, Bath University, Morgan Moore, Winning Scotland/ Planet Youth, and Aimee O’Neill, NIHR. They will respectively present findings of research into the prevalence of synthetic cannabinoids/ Spice in vapes, the Planet Youth Icelandic Model of prevention in Scotland, and opportunities for health research funding from NIHR.
Presentations will be followed by Q&A and a panel discussion with the speakers, and the event will be followed by optional breakout rooms from 17:00 – 17:30 for those that would like to continue discussions and network with colleagues.
Registration: You can register for your place at this free event here.
Programme:
15:30 – 15:40
Welcome & Introductions
15:40 – 15:50
Spotlight 1 – Prof Chris Pudney, Professor of Applied Biochemistry, University of Bath
‘Vapes, THC and Spice – what do we know, and what can we do?’
15:50 – 16:00
Spotlight 2 – Aimee O’Neill, Research Manager, NIHR Coordinating Centre
‘NIHR research funding opportunities and resources’
16:00 – 16:10
Spotlight 3 – Morgan Moore, Planet Youth National Delivery Manager, Winning Scotland
‘The implementation and impact of the Icelandic prevention model in Scotland.’
16:10 – 16:35
Keynote by Prof Owen Bowden-Jones, consultant addiction psychiatrist at CNWL NHS Foundation Trust, Honorary Professor at University College London, Chair of ACMD.
‘Prevention of drug use in young people: Findings from the ACMD report.’
16:35 – 16:55
Q&A and panel discussion with speakers
16:55 – 17:00
Close and notices
17:00 – 17:30
Breakout rooms for informal networking
We believe that every young person in the UK should have access to excellent, evidence-based, age-appropriate drug education, to enable them to make choices about drugs that are informed, independent and will prevent or reduce risk and harm.