GRADE – A (Get Real About Drugs Education in Aberdeen)
During the 2010 Youth Council Elections, Josh Cowe, (Vice-Chair-elect) declared his intention to prioritise the legal drugs threat to young people on the Youth Councils agenda.
In August 2010 The Youth Council set up the Drugs and Alcohol Peer Education Project called GRADE - A with agreed building and staff support from Drugs Action.
This group now meets once a week on a Monday night at 7 Hadden Street 6.30-until late.
The Peer Project's first action as a kick start was to carry out a local investigation Team initiative being co-ordinated nationally by Young Scot £1000 has been obtained for this exercise to evidence the outcomes. This has included devising a local version of the national questionnaire, meeting with schools, and creating a website and Facebook page where the questionnaire will be disseminated. A national discussion day will be held in December 2010 to complete the Project and to report back on the findings from each locality.
So far the Peer Project has direct links with the ADP, NHS Grampian, The Foyer, and Barnardo's In the form of an interim partnership support group.
The young people have agreed to aim for Platinum level with Youth Achievement awards, and that this project will be a permanent youth led project. It will recruit other young people and create a forum to increase harm minimisation including (for example) debating the issue of drug control versus criminalisation.
Back to the Aberdeen City Youth Council home page.