Shared Responsibility

School project proves cocaine ruins the planet as well as lives

Written by Helen McArdle, The Herald Tuesday, 28 April 2009 00:00

Shared Responsibiliy's pilot educational program has been receiving rave reviews these days. The students at Scotland's Girvan Academy were featured in Scottish daily The Herald for their important work in generating awareness about the complex issues that surround cocaine consumption, environmental devastation very much included.

The following is the full text of the article:

Educating teenagers about drug abuse used to consist of a single mantra "just say no".

But that outdated dogma has been challenged in recent months by a pilot project at an Ayrshire school, which has encouraged pupils to rethink their attitudes to cocaine.

Girvan Academy's Shared Responsibility programme asked pupils to confront issues surrounding the drugs trade - from ecological to economic - and to assess its impact on both Scottish and Colombian societies.

The project - led by computing teacher Gareth Rae and a team of three fifth-year students - won the prestigious Young Scot community award earlier this month. Now the pioneering strategy will be rolled-out to classrooms across the country.

Rather than just warning them off the drug, the pilot scheme helped pupils understand the complexities of the drugs trade and its cycle of deprivation and destruction.

Cocaine is not only a personal health hazard but a serious social problem. The drugs trade ravages communities, destroys rainforests and embeds the gulf between rich and poor in Colombia.

Francesca Capaldi, 16, was one of the pupils chosen to be a project co-ordinator. She said it was a refreshing change to traditional anti-drug campaigns.

"We found this was a better approach across all year groups. It was all about why not to take drugs, rather than just an outright don't take drugs without any more explanation. It's more effective when you understand all the ramifications," she said.

Stephen Scholes, 16, who is also part of the co-ordinating team, agreed. He said: "It's a different type of message, in that you're showing the environmental impact. For example, someone might be really eco-conscious but go out and take a line of cocaine without understanding how that affects the planet.

"Where's the sense in driving electric cars, recycling everything and buying organic, only to feed an industry which is destroying the rainforest. It's a more grown-up approach. It doesn't patronise teenagers; that's why it works."

The trio organised the programme, alongside Mr Rae. They produced a DVD looking at all aspects of the cocaine trade, tracing it from production in Columbia through to distribution and abuse in Scotland, including interviewing a recovered cocaine addict who had her young son taken away because of her habit.

"That experience changed my views about drug abusers quite drastically," said Stephen.

"I used to be quite harsh and unsympathetic. I thought they were a drain on society's resources and they should all be locked up. Meeting a recovered drug addict was a revelation. Now I can see the person behind the problem, and I can appreciate how difficult her situation was. It really transformed my attitudes."