It is no different when it comes to drugs education and prevention. You come up against entrenched positions, practices and beliefs that have been elevated into articles of faith. Call them into question and your character comes under scrutiny.
It is to The Prince's Trust's credit, therefore, that it is trying out some of the ideas of writer and academic Phil Harris in a project in Gloucestershire (see feature, p15). Harris calls into question some of the most widely held tenets of the drugs education and prevention industry. Show young people the worst that drugs can do and they will be frightened off the stuff for life. Or will they? Treat peer pressure as an inherently negative force, to be overcome by all means, but especially by that warm glow you get if you "just say no". And get those veterans of the war on drugs, the reformed junkies, dope fiends and cokeheads, to be your frontline troops in the classroom and youth centre.
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