SPTC Annual Conference 8th November 2003

The theme for the 2003 conference was "Sex, Drugs but no Rock 'n Roll". The aim was to look at two issues that are of great importance to parents and young people but ones that they often find it hard to talk about, particularly to each other.

Report by Judith Gillespie

The theme for the 2003 conference was "Sex, Drugs but no Rock 'n Roll". The aim was to look at two issues that are of great importance to parents and young people but ones that they often find it hard to talk about, particularly to each other. Both topics were presented in a factual, informed and non-hysterical way, prompting an adult and mature debate in which the delegates participated keenly. The conference was attended by parents and teachers from across Scotland.

Presentation on Sex

The presentation on Sex was made by a team from Healthy Respect, a Lothian based initiative that is running a series of pilot projects in schools and with parents aimed at improving the sexual health of young people. The pilot projects will be evaluated and, if successful, extended throughout the country as part of the new sexual health strategy. The presentation to the conference focused on the parent project. Up-front was the research-finding that young people who talked to their parents about sex and relationships were less likely to engage in underage sex, get pregnant or contract diseases.

The focus was on what made it possible for parents and youngsters to talk together about sex. One factor to emerge was that it was easier to talk if there was something to talk about – a prompt that made the discussion seem natural. Healthy Respect explained an initiative, started in Wester Hailes. GPs send youngsters a 14th birthday card, introducing themselves and reminding them of the importance of sexual health and of their role in looking after the youngster. The card also contained useful information, particularly about agencies that youngsters might need to use. However, the card was sent to the parents who then handed it to the 14 year-old, thereby creating an occasion for a parent-child discussion on sex. Feedback from the pilot was extremely positive. When questioned about “why wait until the child was 14”, the team explained that this was a compromise between their aim to communicate with youngsters before they became sexually active and the age at which parents found such a communication acceptable.

The Healthy Respect team then organised everyone into groups to discuss questions parents might have about their children’s sexual activity, the questions youngsters might have themselves and how these questions could be answered. In the afternoon, the workshop again focused on the problems of communication, the advantage of having something to talk about, and the problems created by language and the multiplicity of terms used for the relevant parts of the body. We were told of a project that was done with primary six children in which they are given the proper, medical names but also asked to write down all the words they knew. A primary head teacher in the group reported that when this had been introduced initially there had been some resistance by parents, but that now it was very much welcomed by parents.

We also discussed the role of media and the way soap operas in particular raise sexual questions which parents might not feel ready to talk about with their children. Parents had different responses to this. One simply switched the television off and said that it was not appropriate, whilst others felt forced to deal with it. Many reported that they found it uncomfortable to watch along-side their children and were aware that their children were similarly uncomfortable to be watching with them. It was pointed out that what seemed explicit to adults often went over the heads of youngsters and that often only simple explanations were needed. All in all it was a challenging presentation and discussion that gave everyone practice on discussing sex.
 

Presentation on Drugs





The presentation by Roy Harrower of Lothian and Borders Police covered:-

• the range of illegal drugs available
• how they were taken
• what their impact was in terms of positive feeling and addiction
• what the risks were in terms of what happened if someone overdose
• the cost
• the law

He didn’t hold back and everyone emerged much better informed. For example, we learnt that the most dangerous was solvent abuse as this could lead to death the first time it was tried. We also learnt of the difference between chemical addiction and emotional addiction. Interestingly in a long-term survey of how young people had reacted to various forms of education, it was found that telling young people nothing was preferable to either scaring them or giving them straight knowledge. However, developing their skills in handling situations where they might be faced with drugs was the most successful form of education. Also, in terms of the figures of young people taking drugs, whilst one in three tries cannabis, as many as this are offered it and refuse.

One reason why drug taking is increasing in prevalence is that the cost has stayed static for the last thirty years and so in real terms they have become relatively cheap. Having said that we got some insight into the mark-up e-tabs cost 25 pence to make but sell for £4 a time.

Roy Harrower also covered the fashions in drugs. LSD, which had been very popular in the sixties, was not now used very much. Heroin is seen as a back street drug and cocaine is acceptable because it is taken by pop stars. In fact cocaine is at least as dangerous as heroin, and crack cocaine.

Against the problems of illegal drugs, alcohol is the most commonly used by young people and smoking is the most dangerous. However youngsters who take illegal drugs are also likely to smoke and drink alcohol. One important element was that the illegal drugs had not been subjected to the same rigorous safety checks as medical drugs, for example, and people were only slowly learning the long-term risks of these drugs. These long-term risks were, in many cases, as bad as the long-term risks of tobacco smoking.

There was a lot of discussion about the law and the fact that even after cannabis is downgraded from a B to a C drug, possession will still be an arrestable offence.

SPTC November 2003