I am writing to the Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education to present results from a regional study investigating prevalence of substance use among 12 Irish secondary schools in the North Eastern region of Ireland: Counties Louth, Monaghan, Cavan and Meath. 6 of these schools received peer education, as adjunct to the universal national drug education curriculum, Social Personal and Health Education, (SPHE).

The research aimed to present regional youth substance prevalence data for the Regional Drug Task Force Data Coordination unit. However, some interesting differences emerged between schools receiving peer education funded by the Drug Task Force and those schools did not. The letter also wishes to draw attention to the current lack of peer education program quality assurance and outcome evaluations in Ireland, with an increasing amount of freelance companies offering peer education (Substance Use Peer Education Responses Program (SUPER), Hands on Peer Education (HOPE), Peer Education Program (PEP), Positive Youth Education (PYE), and DAP, Cross Care) often funded by local and regional Drugs Task Forces. A systematic review of the National Documentation Centre on Drug Use databases yielded no peer education evaluations conducted to date in Ireland.