Posted on November 9, 2009

In Wales, students are being educated on the harsh realities of addiction and crime in a project involving former drug dealers and addicts. The pilot program, called the Choose Life Program, is targeting 13- and 14-year-olds at Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni on Anglesey, and it aims to highlight the links between drugs and alcohol and crime.

"This will give 13 and 14-year-olds a rare and hard-hitting insight into a world that very few people know about," said Gareth Bayley Hughes, the coordinator with the Ynys Môn Community Safety Partnership, which has teamed up with the Choose Life Project.

"The Choose Life volunteers will be using their own personal experiences to highlight the dangers of getting involved in drugs and alcohol abuse and the negative effects they have on the lives of individuals, their families, communities and society in general," he added.

As part of the program, students are given a chance to watch the Choose Life play, which was written by a group of prison inmates and based on their own introduction to alcohol and drugs.

The program also involves discussion sessions with other groups, including the Ynys Môn and Gwynedd Youth Justice Service, Anglesey’s Road Safety Team, and North Wales Police.

"Anglesey, like every other county, has its concerns about drugs and alcohol abuse,” said Anglesey counselor William Hughes.

"This new educational pilot will allow us to highlight the dangers associated with substance misuse,” Hughes said, adding that the volunteers’ personal accounts would show students that drugs and alcohol can destroy lives.

"By hearing their stories, and input from the other partner organizations, we’ll be able to bring home these key messages to our young people," he added.

Hughes said that if the project was a success, the hope was to extend the program to other secondary schools across Wales.