Traditionally, high school drug education is based on the belief that abstinence and delayed onset of (legal) drug use are the only reliable strategies for reducing drug-related harm. High risk drug use (injecting) poses numerous risks to public health, including HIV/ AIDS, Hepatitis C and various other blood borne infections. The international drug education research community has begun to call for a greater emphasis to be placed on the teaching of low-risk drug and sexual practices rather than relying on abstinence only approaches to reduce drug-related harm. Current anti-drugs legislation and the absence of any compulsory drug education for year 11 or 12 students in Western Australia has meant that formal research into young people's illicit drug use has been minimal. Thus, the current kindergarten to year 10 (K- 10) drug education program is founded on invalidated theory about best preventive practice, limited epidemiological surveys, and data drawn from clinical and crisis care research that is atypical of most (high school) drug users, and perhaps of limited relevance to the youth group most at risk of drug-related harm. In this study, six diverse social interest groups were investigated to determine the level of congruence between youth and adult attitudes and expectations toward drug education. A content analysis of the data gathered from key informant focus interviews was used to develop a questionnaire, which was piloted, psychometrically tested and then administered to high school students, school administrators, parents, health and non- health education teachers, and community police officers. The results revealed many differences between the adult and youth groups sampled (N=429), many of which have important theoretical and practical implications for the future development of effective, user relevant drug education programs aimed at reducing the harm to young people resulting from high risk drug use and drug-related sexual practices.