A NURSING sister has made drug awareness her top priority, amid rising concerns about drug use by Blackpool teenagers

Chris Johnson has been employed by the Fylde Community Health Trust as a substance misuse adviser in schools.

Her aim is to make sure that teachers and school nurses have an accurate working knowledge of drugs so that they can speak authoritatively and effectively to teenagers about the dangers.

Being a passionate believer in the power of education, she says: "I learnt from my time on Grange Park as adviser to the Pathways Initiative that it's never too early to start talking to children about drugs awareness.

"Even primary school children know something about the subject, but often what they have is misinformation.

"We need to ensure young people have access to the truth."

She cites the recent publicity over GHB as an example: "Much is being made of the fact that it's home-made and therefore no-one can be sure what's exactly in it.

"But any illegal substance can be impure.

"No-one can ever be sure they're getting what they've paid for. That's the risk."

Keen to encourage parents not to panic if they discover their children are experimenting with drugs, Chris reassures them by saying: "If there was a single reason why young people took drugs and we knew what it was, we could stop it overnight.

"We'll never have 100 per cent success.

"Adolescents do push the boundaries, but the majority who try drugs out stop when they are 24 or 25.

"Our message is don't take anything, but if you must, come out of it safely.

"Don't end up on the slippery slope of dependency."

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