DSM Foundation founder and director appointed to government drugs advisory body
The DSM Foundation is delighted to announce that drugs education charity founder and director Fiona Spargo-Mabbs OBE has been appointed to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. The ACMD is an advisory non-departmental public body that makes recommendations to the government on the control of dangerous or otherwise harmful drugs, including classification and scheduling under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and its regulations. It was in the news as recently as last week when the Home Office announced that Policing Minister Dame Angela Johnson had requested the ACMD make recommendations about whether ketamine should be reclassified as a Class A drug.
DSM Foundation Director, Founder and Dan’s mum Fiona Spargo-Mabbs said: “I feel incredibly honoured to be joining the ACMD, an influential group of experts working in an area that is very close to my heart, and am very much looking forward to being able to play a role alongside others in providing independent advice to government, and reducing risk and harm from drugs. Eleven years ago I lost my dear son Dan, and wanting to try and spare other young people and their families going through what we did, I set up a drugs education charity to support safer decision making in situations involving drugs - something Dan sadly didn't get. Every year, both I and the DSM Foundation have been able to do more and more, both in terms of the work we do and the reach we have, and so now being able to be part of the ACMD team with such combined expertise, the potential is there to make a difference to many, many more.”
The appointment announcement can be seen at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/acmd-appoints-10-leading-experts
Information for editors:
The DSM Foundation is a drug education charity established in 2014 following the death of 16 year old Daniel Spargo-Mabbs from an accidental overdose of ecstasy. His family felt that he simply hadn’t known enough to be able to make decisions that would keep him safe, and realized there was a huge gap in the resources and support available to schools, so set up the charity in order to spare other families going through what they had experienced.
The aim of the DSM Foundation is to provide young people with relevant, age-appropriate, up to date and evidence-based information about drugs so they develop the skills to make choices that will keep themselves and their friends as safe as possible. To this end, the charity is currently working in almost 750 schools, colleges and community organisations with children and young people, and also provides workshops for parents and caregivers, and training for school and college staff – the two groups shown by NHS survey data as the most likely sources of information about drugs and alcohol sought out by 11-15 year olds. Educational settings are also able to access “I Love You Mum, I Promise I Won’t Die”, a verbatim play by Mark Wheeller that was commissioned by the charity to tell Dan’s story in the words of his family and friends, through studying the work itself (sometimes due to it being a GCSE Drama set text on the Eduqas syllabus), or booking a Theatre in Education performance. Schools and colleges can also download age-appropriate, relevant, up to date and evidence-based drugs education lesson resources free of charge from the DSM Foundation website for delivery by teachers through PSHE/PSE provision.
For more information about the DSM Foundation, go to https://www.dsmfoundation.org.uk/.
Media enquiries about this press release or the work of the DSM Foundation should be sent to media@dsmfoundation.org.uk.
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