tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1283956986296919147.post1775168522130853300..comments2024-03-28T11:24:36.397-07:00Comments on Charlotte Leslie : Essential Viewing for this Sunday -Barton Hill on the Politics Show!Charlotte Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13138761602383734539noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1283956986296919147.post-89239924494400516752007-07-21T17:43:00.000-07:002007-07-21T17:43:00.000-07:00Good question. One of the keys to social breakdown...Good question. One of the keys to social breakdown, and probably one of the hardest questions to answer.<BR/><BR/>If there was a simple silver bullet, it is likely someone would have found it by now. But one way is by stamping down harder on the dealers. Police sometimes tell me that due to the kind of targets they have to meet, there is more incentive to crack down (no pun intended) on users than those supplying them. <BR/><BR/>But drug addiction is not an isolated phenomenon. It's part (albeit a very big part) of a cycle of all sorts of things; depression, lack of work, surrounding culture... <BR/><BR/>One thing that begins to break that cycle is getting young people out of the kind of mind-set that leads to drug addiction in the first place. Young people who drop out of school, don't take (m)any GCSEs, hang out with the wrong friends, are far more at risk of developing addiction. Give them something that inspires them - that they feel they can do, and they will no be so vulnerable. Last weekend, I visited Lawrence Weston Carnival and had a great time. There was a group of young men doing some really impressive rap beatbox stuff. I spoke to the police officer- 'it's amazing' she said. 'Quite a few of those boys are the ones who spend their time running away from us and getting into trouble'. Giving young people something to do, communicating with them on their own terms isn't just pandering to them, it's preventing problems -that impact on all of our lives- from happening in the first place. <BR/><BR/>No complete solution, I grant you, but it's a start!Charlotte Lesliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13138761602383734539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1283956986296919147.post-63324974166827866132007-07-21T05:08:00.000-07:002007-07-21T05:08:00.000-07:00how would you tackle drug addictionhow would you tackle drug addictionpercyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15047238775548716511noreply@blogger.com