Weed

The project was planned with a clear policy on drugs, with cannabis problems being anticipated in particular. Working with young people who have already been in trouble means you want to help them to avoid getting into further "silly" trouble during the project. Ironically, although weed was mentioned everywhere ("I luv weed 4eva" emblazoned on most surfaces), few of the Learners were truly interested in it.

In the Drama group Mark solved this by over-mentioning the greatness of "weed, grass, smokin, joints, blunts" until the Learners were sick of it and moved on.

The few times there were actually incidents with weed, they fell into two categories:

1) Comic:
A few young people, presumably with the intention of rolling a joint, disappeared to the toilets. The college campus hosts RAF courses and that day was sniffer dog training. It's difficult to say who was more surprised when the RAF Spaniel made an unexpected lurch for the toilets.

2) Unpleasant:
In an act of defiance to the workers, a couple of young people very obviously rolled a joint in the park. As the workers were unsure about physically stepping in, the response to their verbal intervention was increased defiance. A very young lad passing by was invited to join them smoking. This was one of the few times where it was clearly a case of asking someone to leave the project.

For future work a more in-depth policy on behaviour will be prepared. There will always be the contradiction of a young person appreciating and enjoying being trusted - even signing up to agree to prove it - against the reality of their lifestyles and what they feel is expected from their peers.