Team: Olivia Maynard 

Overview: While many universities employ a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to illicit drug use, imposing penalties on students found possessing drugs, the University of Bristol was one of the first to implement a novel, harm reduction approach to student drug use. We have been working wth a multi-agency group including the university, police, Bristol City Council and Bristol Drugs Project to support the ongoing development of this approach. University of Bristol students now have access to one-to-one harm reduction advice sessions, drugs education sessions, drug reagent testing kits, and drug-related resources in student residences. Our qualitative research has explored students’ and stakeholders’ attitudes towards drugs education and the specific needs of female students. These findings have directly led to changes in the drugs education provision offered to students.  

Outputs:  

• Waples, L., Carlisle, V. R., & Maynard, O. M. (2024). “They’re doing it anyway, let’s have a conversation about it”: exploring student and stakeholder attitudes towards drug education programmes for university students. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 31(2), 246-256. 

• Exploring students' attitudes and beliefs around discussing drug (including alcohol) use with academic staff, 2021 By Aoife Maguire and Olivia Maynard