Substance Abuse

The Substance Abuse Awareness programme is the newest of the 5 peer education programmes run by MMSA. It is run in cooperation with the European Commission’s European Action on Drugs Campaign, which strives to make Europeans aware of the dangers of drug use and the current situation across the continent. The first sessions where delivered during the last scholastic year at the Science Week, an annual event organized by the NSTF. These proved to be extremely successful and so this year we are expanding the project and doing our utmost to reach more teens.

The peer education sessions are flexible in terms of who they apply for, whilst they may be very important in informing youngsters at a secondary school level, these sessions may also apply for students at post secondary level who may still have unanswered questions in this sphere. The idea is to send a message of drug prevention, actively engage them in the issue and cut the problem at its root.

The sessions will provide the teens with basic information about the most common types of drugs, in particular depressants, stimulants and hallucinogens. These sessions will also look at how to recognize these different drugs, tips on how to detect if someone is using drugs, and of course where to go for help. We will also discuss current issues, such as the recent decriminalization of drugs in certain countries.

The methods used are interactive, thus allowing the students to take on an active role. Time will be allocated for questions. The best approach is for us to deliver 2 sessions of around 45 minutes each. This will allow ample time for student involvement. It will be possible for us to run the whole content in one session; however, we highly recommend the 2 session approach.

For further information please contact npet@mmsa.org.mt