(Reprinted from the Somerset Healthy Schools Newsletter)
"On March 31st Dr Kath Wilson, Somerset's Healthy Schools Coordinator is retiring. The team and those many people (including colleagues at SHEU) who have worked with her and benefited from her tireless support will sorely miss her.
Kath first came to Somerset in 1983 having already had a career in the Royal Air Force. She began her work here as a science teacher at Buckler's Mead School in Yeovil, from where in 1988 she took on the county based role as Advisory Teacher for Health Related Education. This role has developed over the past 20 years. Since then Kath has moved the Healthy Schools Programme forward in Somerset ensuring that the health needs of Somerset's children and young people are constantly on the agenda. Her mantra has always been ' how will this help our children live healthy, happy lives' and often her forthright approach has challenged those she works with to really reflect on what they are doing and what they hope to achieve. Kath's sharp mind and intellectual approach has always been accompanied by humour and a willingness to do all she can to help get things right. She is thought highly of both at a local, regional and national level . We all wish Kath a very happy early retirement. We know she will be spending time in her garden and with her family. She also tells us she intends getting a bus pass and exploring the county at leisure, so look out for her on your travels."

SHEU figures from 1985 show that more 14-15 year old males than 14-15 year old females consistently report drinking more than 10 units of alcohol ‘in the last seven days’.

Over the years, there has been around a 5% ± difference between the two groups with no overall trend.

The male and female percentages have followed a similar pattern since the early 1990s.
Figures for the males range from 13% (1991/99) to 20% (1995/96).
Figures for the females range from 6% (1990) to 14% (1995).

Over the past ten years around 15% of 14-15 year old males and around 10% of 14-15 year old females have drank more than 10 units of alcohol e.g. 5 pints of beer during ‘the last 7 days’.

The curious incident of young people's reaction to the re-classification of cannabis - "Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?" "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." "The dog did nothing in the night-time." "That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes. From the story ‘Silver Blaze’, in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

After much debate, the ACMD recommended a re-classification of Cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug, which was put into law in 2003. There was some speculation that this would lead to a relaxation in attitudes to cannabis, and a consequent rise in prevalence of use. The phrase 'sending the wrong signals' was used; ironically, in our view, because the re-classification was intended, at least in part, to correct the anomaly of classifying cannabis with more dangerous drugs.
We have been collecting information from young people in school about their drug and other behaviour for the last 30 years, and have seen the prevalence of experimentation of cannabis wax and wane and wax once more.

We were obviously very interested to see what was going to happen to figures after the re-classification. We have been contacted by several journalists looking for the predicted rise in young people's use. We have told them that we have seen no rise, but this 'good news' story has never found its way into a headline, which we regret.
There are a couple of other good news stories, in fact, about young people and cannabis in the same data sets:
 Experimentation has not grown in proportion with availability; therefore, young people are able to refuse unwelcome offers of cannabis
 Young people's perceptions of the dangers of cannabis have firmed up over recent years; until recently, older pupils were inclined to be more sanguine about any risks, but now there is a greater awareness of the dangers
We are inclined to conclude a number of things:
 That the precise status of cannabis in the classification is not very important when young people are making decisions about drugs
 That good quality information about cannabis can deter experimentation
 That good news about young people is hard to get into the press
 That the re-opening of this debate serves no useful purpose

If there is a drug about which the law sends the wrong signals to young people, it is undoubtedly alcohol, of which the mental health dangers have been plain since antiquity.