Drug Lords
by Jack Stilgoe
Outside the House of Lords, I was chatting to a policeman. He told me that a lot of people had been coming to watch the debate. He told me that he was particularly interested in the issue, as his son - he was very proud of his son - had behavioural difficulties. They had offered Ritalin, but he and his wife had refused. Son was now doing his A-levels, had just got his GCSEs with all As and Bs. All it had taken was early understanding of the problem and the help of some good teachers. Drugs not required. I'm sure he was right. He had a gun.
There's a lot of perspectives on this issue: Educationalists, scientists, parents, young people and politicians. And yet, there's very little conversation. We did a seminar the other day for Foresight, which tried to get things going. A short report will follow. But the time is right to do something bigger. We'll be looking in the next couple of months to build this up. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.