A Fraserburgh police officer has hailed efforts to warn youngsters away from the lure of legal highs.
Over the last two months, youngsters in the town have taken part in workshops and heard about problems associated not only with drugs, but tobacco and alcohol.
Police teamed up with social workers, foster parents and community learning services to deliver the initiative.
And last night Sergeant Sam Buchan, who led some of the workshops, said if even just one child was turned off trying drugs as a result, the project should be considered a success.
The officer, who secured funding to run the initiative through the Choices for Life programme, said: “We had about 30 kids to the project that came along, to get practical input and awareness raising of the problems of addiction – tobacco and alcohol, too – not just drugs.
“It’s not unique to Fraserburgh, it’s a national problem, but it is an issue. What we tried to do with this project is give the community assurances that the police and our partner agencies are working.”
The project was launched in March with a visit from Edinburgh-based charity Fast Forward and weekly sessions at the JIC building in Fraserburgh’s Albert Lane followed.
Srg Buchan added: “We also asked Fraserburgh Academy for pupils to design an anti-addiction logo and we got 150 responses. That’s 150 people doing proactive work against addiction.”
Last night, Georgia Morrison, 13, who took part in the workshops and designed the logo to be used on branding for future events, said she had learned valuable lessons from the programme.
“When you’re walking about you can tell who has fallen into the substance abuse trap. Through this, I’ve been shown the consequences of it at school,” she said.