According to the British Crime Survey, around 45 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds have used an illegal drug. Every youth worker needs to know how to help young people find information and deal with the pressures surrounding drug use.
One obvious place to start is www.talktofrank.com. As the home of the main government information campaign on drugs, this is the best funded and probably most comprehensive site for young people. The Frank campaign was extensively researched before it was launched to find out what tone of voice worked well with its key audience of young people. It marked a decisive break from the "Just Say No" approaches in favour of a knowing, insider's point of view. The site currently features: an A-Z with some 200 entries listing drugs by their official and street names and giving comprehensive legal, medical and other information; details of how to access free online and telephone drugs advice; a self-help course to cut down on cannabis use; tips for dealing with the pressure to take drugs; and real-life stories.
There's also access to Frank's interactive material, enabling you to vomit copiously over your friends when you pull a "whitey" on cannabis and to learn more about the dark side to cocaine from Pablo, the canine drugs mule. There is also a timely section on surviving the summer's festival season.
Many voluntary sector bodies also operate in this arena. DrugScope is one of the largest, and its website www.drugscope.org.uk provides access to resources for everyone from the general youth work practitioner to the academic researcher. The latter may be most interested in DrugData, a searchable databank of some 100,000 records of literature on drugs, while youth workers may be more interested in the informative FAQs section, the online drugs encyclopedia DrugSearch, and the good practice section.
The site also links to D-world (www.drugscope-dworld.org.uk), a sub-site for 11- to 14-year-olds that includes games to raise awareness about the effects of drugs, some of which can also be printed off and used in group discussions. The site features short films of young people talking about their experiences and, particularly handy for educators, outlines of different projects that young people can research. Topics include "What does the media say about drugs?" and "What drug use is happening where I live?"
For older young people who prefer something more "street", the site www.urban75.com revels in having been described in Parliament as "disconcertingly well-informed" about drugs use. Its extensive briefings on individual drugs get right to the point. On ketamine, for example, "your movements may become as swift as a spliffed-up tortoise crawling across an extra-sticky big bun on a very hot day". This is a non-commercial, independent site funded by its readers, with a tinge of anarchist politics. It "neither condemns nor condones" drug use, and has plenty of health information and legal advice, as well as very active forums discussing topics ranging from "quitting Clonazepam" to "Eve - what is it?"
Probably more of an issue for many youth workers is solvent abuse. The agency Re-Solv has campaigned on this for 25 years and among the resources on www.re-solv.org is a free online training course for those working with young people, which takes around half a day to complete. There are also free downloadable leaflets on sniffing in general, as well as leaflets covering butane, poppers, nitrous oxide and mothballs. Re-Solv also runs the website www.sniffing.org.uk for 12- to 14-year-olds that features the Hazard Crew, cartoon figures who dispense the message that solvent abuse may seem cool, and it may feel all right, but sniffing won't solve your problems, will ultimately make you feel dreadful and may even kill you.
Finally, drug charity Addaction's website, www.addaction.org.uk, has some free downloads including the booklets What Would You Do?, giving young people multiple-choice scenarios to help them make informed choices, and How Do I Cope?, aimed at children living with someone with a substance abuse problem.
WEB FILE
www.talktofrank.com - The online arm of the government's Frank drugs information campaign
www.drugscope.org.uk - Offers a range of practical and academic resources
www.drugscope-dworld.org.uk - Contains games to raise awareness of the effects of different drugs
www.urban75.com - An independent site and forum that offers impartial information about drugs
www.re-solv.org - Information and training on preventing solvent abuse
www.sniffing.org.uk - Uses cartoon characters to educate young people about the dangers of solvent abuse
www.addaction.org.uk - Includes free booklets on a range of topics that can be downloaded
