During Drugs and Alcohol Awareness Week (27 November to 1 December 2023) The Students' Union highlighted key harm reduction information for drugs including alcohol.
UWE's Drugs and Alcohol Awareness Week (17th - 24th of November 2025) saw The Students' Union at UWE run our annual programme of engaging students in conversations about drug and alcohol usage. This year, this included pizza parties to promote the Student, Drug and Alcohol National Survey and student-led Drink/Rethink Interventions!
The Students’ Union and our partners at NUS Drug and Alcohol Impact trained students to become Drink/Rethink Ambassadors who then delivered a brief alcohol intervention to students, where they completed a short survey. This year, our Drink/Rethink Intervention engaged 227 students!
Read the results here!
You took part in SOS-UK Drug and Alcohol Survey - we do this each year to gain insight and understanding to the ever-changing landscape of student drug use. This year, to incentivise students, we held pizza parties!
Read more about how Drug and Alcohol Awareness Week went below!
Drug and Alcohol Awareness Week
We launched the second video of this year's Let’s Talk About Drugs series – focusing on Drug Checking options available to you! Keep an eye out for more Let’s Talk About Drugs Videos next term and if you’ve got a topic you’d like us to talk about let us know by emailing sucommunity@uwe.ac.uk!
Have you spotted our Harm Reduction Campaign posters across campus? Our hope is we can create an environment where speaking about drugs including alcohol is no longer paired with fear of judgement or punishment.
Mixing drugs and alcohol
In this article, SPACED explore the interactions between alcohol and common drugs used by the student population.
Whether you don't drink alcohol or choose not to drink regularly, meeting people and socialising at University can feel daunting. Find out more in this article.
If you’re thinking of spiking someone ……..you shouldn’t. Drink spiking is illegal and a serious crime. It carries a sentence of up to ten years in prison. Read our article.
Don't be misled by the media We are bombarded with images in the media showing students drinking alcohol all the time, but only 9% of students report getting intentionally drunk more than once a week. Find out more.
We understand that some of our students will choose to use cocaine, despite knowing the dangers that go along with it. The Students’ Union and UWE Bristol hope that those UWE students who do choose to use cocaine, are given the opportunity to make an informed decision and know how to reduce some of the risks associated with illegal drug taking.
There is so much you can do in Bristol that does not involve alcohol; have a look at our tips on how to have a sober night out, read about the ways that alcohol can affect your mental health, as well as your academic achievement and find out all the amazing alcohol-free nights you can have in Bristol!
Main photo: Nastya Dulhiier on Unsplash