Radmila Doder is a drug prevention activist from Serbia. In this month’s Youth Flash she tells us about her experience working on the issue:
Last year I participated in a youth gathering organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Youth Initiative in the context of the Commission of Narcotic Drugs in Vienna where I met youth from all around the world who were also working on raising awareness about substance abuse and its prevention.
There, we exchanged our experiences, shared ideas, and discussed causes, consequences and strategies to combat substance abuse. In addition, we had the opportunity to share our views with policy makers.
Through this experience I realized that even though the participants came from different countries and cultures, there were many similarities to our stories.
I was able to gain knowledge and improve in my work on raising awareness about substance abuse and its prevention.
There are so many reasons why young people start experimenting with substance abuse. When it comes to my own experience, I think that the problem was that I was spending so much time in school feeling bored as a result of a strong curriculum and old methodology, and had a lack of extracurricular activities to engage in. Moreover, the influence of peers, the family, and the media can all play an influential role in the well-being and behaviour of young people.
When it comes to preventing substance abuse, aside from peer education and roundtable type workshops, which from my experience seem effective, it is important to work on giving young people an opportunity to attend free extracurricular activities. Unfortunately, in this respect there are often not enough opportunities available for young people.
In two projects I participated in, Grab Your Future (2013) and Project Loud and Clear (2014), also known as the Zvezdarijada youth festival, one of the goals was to change the present situation regarding a lack of extracurricular activities for young people.
The Grab Your Future project held a large number of activities such as roundtables, meetings with school councils, parents and surveys. However, the two main activities were Training of Trainers for Youth Activism and Youth Activism Training.
During these two main activities youth acquired useful skills and knowledge which they could use for their individual and team projects such as leadership, organization skills, project planning techniques, presentation skills and teamwork as well as mentorship, basics of pedagogy, and drug addiction and prevention.
One of our biggest accomplishments as a result of participating in the Grab Your Future project was the creation of our group project named Cocktail of Languages, which is a free school of languages. It was established in 2013 and so far more than 500 of our peers have attended classes. In addition, we succeeded in creating this project with a $0 budget.
Project Loud and Clear is a youth festival that also has a wide range of activities such as workshops, competitions and roundtables. The aim of the festival was to raise the level of knowledge and skills of young people by using various techniques such as creating short stories, poems, art, philosophical essays, and through public speaking. In this way, youth can express themselves and their views concerning drug use with the aim of inspiring youth and entire communities to act against it. In addition, students who participated in the workshop on assertive communication developed assertive communication and assertive conflict resolution skills. Moreover, awareness was raised among parents on prevention and ways to recognise drug abuse.
The biggest reward for those of us who have been working on prevention is seeing our peers, friends and acquaintances spending their free time attending educational activities they find interesting and fulfilling. In addition, so many friendships have been made thanks to these projects and that is just one of the positive benefits that have come out of these initiatives.
Working on prevention is really important and I believe that every single citizen should try to contribute to the prevention of substance abuse, especially youth. Governments and civil society organisations should not only continue to support these efforts, but to increase their support. Together we can move the world!
All in all, I strongly believe and agree with the statement that substance abuse is preventable and treatable. Furthermore, in my opinion, it is really important for youth to continue to advocate on this issue, because we, as young people, can contribute so much and in so many ways. Step by step, we are making this world a better place.
About the Author:
Radmila Doder is a drug prevention activist from Serbia. She participated in many youth fora organized in the context of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), Vienna and in two prevention-related projects organized by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Youth Initiative: Grab Your Future (2013) and Project Loud and Clear (2014).
