The school, in co-operation with the Midrand branch of the South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency, held a ‘Truth About Drugs’ training session in Ebony Park for two weeks in October.
The Truth About Drugs campaign is the largest non-governmental drug prevention campaign of its kind, with the purpose of reaching all with a drug-free message.
The Foundation for a Drug-Free World oversees the campaign that is used by teachers, school counsellors, drug education specialists and law enforcement officers around the world. Its drug-free message reaches more than 100 million people a year.
Those trained in Ebony Park came from different organisations and included Midrand staff and volunteers of the South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Community Developer, the Tirani Organisation for Vulnerable Children, Operation Thiba Nyaope, and Men for Development in South Africa.
Attendees were armed with real but simple facts about dagga, alcohol, Tik, cocaine, heroin, prescription drug abuse and more.
Midrand’s South African National Council on Alcoholism’s community work co-ordinator Tshepiso Mabuela said, “Thank you for your wonderful training. It really made a difference.”
Everyone who attended the session signed a pledge to help create a drug-free greater Midrand.
Philippa Sondergaard, Truth About Drugs programme co-ordinator for Summerhill School, said, “If people, especially the youth, know the facts about drugs they can make an informed decision when offered these substances and fed the lies which dealers create in order to get them to buy.”
Summerhill School executive principal Sonja Morshead said she understood the need for drug education and the school was reaching out to help train others and thus empower the youth in greater Midrand.
Details: www.drugfreeworld.org
