Along with around 400 other people – a mix of young people, parents and policy experts – across the country I spent Saturday thinking about what should go into the government’s children and young people’s plan.
At the beginning of the day we were joined by the Prime Minister who spoke about the issues he hoped the strategy would tackle and the approach that his government will take.
His comments on the use of role models to help young people avoid the harms that drugs do were widely reported.
The BBC report the speech he gave us:
The prime minister said good role models were crucial on issues such as drug abuse and criticised celebrities who thought they were “above the law”.
He added: “I spoke to Kelly Holmes last night, the great Olympic runner, she would be very happy to be one of the role models.
“As someone who’s won a sport who says that drugs are awful and wants to tell young people that drugs are completely unacceptable.
“And there may be others who can be role models for young people just as friends can be, just as neighbours can be and people who have got a national standing who can do so.
“On the other side of this we’ve got celebrities who take a very casual attitude to drugs, who think that their standing in the community makes them above the law on these matters.
“And that is another area where I think we’ve got to send a very clear message. Not only that we will not decriminalise drugs but at the same time that this is unacceptable behaviour.”
In another report on the same speech the BBC quote the editor of Mixmag who points out that celebrities and their drug use send complicated messages:
“I think people like Amy Winehouse and, particularly, Pete Doherty, the message that they convey is actually through their conduct. You look at Pete Doherty, he’s no good advert for heroin.
“In fact, if anything the decline of Pete Doherty has been quite a powerful image in itself.”
You can also find coverage in The Daily Express (x2), The Metro, and The Telegraph (x2).
Filed under: drug strategy
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