There were positive comments from primary school teachers who were interviewed about a drugs awareness programme carried out in the Finglas/Cabra area with fifth and sixth classes earlier this year. "The children had an opportunity to talk about issues that were of major concern to them in a context in which there was no threat from adults," according to those teachers who were interviewed about the programme.

In a recently published evaluation of the programme by Dr Mark Morgan of St Patrick's College, Dublin, he reports that teachers felt that the children's awareness "was heightened and boys were inclined to speak in a more informed way about the topic". Also, they said, the programme, which set out to increase young people's awareness of drugs and highlight the need for drug awareness education, "has made the students more aware of the dangers plus it helped them realise that anyone can be a drug addict".

"The opportunity to talk about the drugs issue gave them a sense of how they could deal with pressure," was one individual comment. "The skills which the pupils learned are relevant not only to the drug situation but also to other situations that they will experience in their lives," said another.

All the teachers who were interviewed said that the programme "did indeed have an effect" on the children. Overall, they said that following the programme the children had "a high awareness" of drugs.