Informing Consent: Should 'Providers' Inform 'Purchasers' About the Risks of Drug Education?

This paper argues that most drug education is problematic as an ‘evidence-based’ intervention, as it either lacks sufficient empirical support for its implementation, or it continues in the face of negative results. It is argued that drug education is a good example of an entrenched but risky public health intervention which is unimpeded by any burden of evidence, but this fact is not well known in the purchasing communities which often mandate such preventive programs universally. A morally informed public health policy would suggest that such quality assurance data is mandatory for the continuation or maintenance of any preventative drug education.