A DRUGS prevention team is hitting the road to visit schools and village halls in the Ribble Valley thanks to a £49,000 government grant.

The Ribble Valley Drugs Education Group has received the cash to employ two youth workers to travel the area with drugs advice for youngsters after substance abuse was identified by the area's Crime and Disorder Partnership as a "small but growing problem".

Drugs education workers Lisa Harvey, 23, from Blackburn, and Lisa Richardson, 24, from Goosnargh, are visiting secondary schools and village halls with a special drugs prevention roadshow.

Lisa Harvey said: "We are visiting secondary schools in the Ribble Valley offering information and advice on illegal drugs, as well as caffeine, alcohol and tobacco.

"We use interactive role-playing sessions and discussion to look at the effects of drugs and peer pressure.

"We have been to several schools and the youngsters seem to really enjoy the sessions."

The roadshow is also visiting Ribble Valley villages offering drugs information and advice to youngsters and their parents.

Lisa added: "We are aiming for prevention, as opposed to cure.

"We are trying to find new ways of delivering drugs education that young people will find interesting and enjoyable, rather than standing at the front of a classroom and giving them a lecture.

"The initiative has so far been a great success, and we hope to eventually reach every young person in the Ribble Valley."

The Ribble Valley Crime and Disorder Partnership conducted a three-year audit that revealed drugs offences in the borough were comparatively low.

There were 31 reported drugs offences in the Ribble Valley in 2001, half of them in Clitheroe, from a Lancashire total of 3,124.