Published: Wednesday, 30th July, 2008 12:00
Street Sense tackles violence, drugs and alcohol issues
By Hamish Hutchinson
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Street Sense volunteers John Gibson, Mark Lawrie and Scott Gardner are highlighting the often devastating affects of drugs, alcohol and knives.
Pic by: Jan van der Merwe
KNIFE crime is only one aspect that Street Sense focuses on. Drink and drugs are also discussed by the volunteers from Alloa and Stirling.
John Gibson (43), a reformed alcoholic and Street Sense volunteer, explains to the children the devastating affects of abusing drink.
He told the Advertiser, “I drank that much that at times I ended up in the hospital and jail and didn’t know how I got there. All my crime was engineered through alcohol.
“I tell the kids I’ve been down that road, gone down the wrong path, and hopefully by talking to them make them see another.
“You really can see the difference in the kids after the workshops and even during them.
“Because we tell them openly about us and it’s all confidential, they start to open up themselves.”
Street Sense volunteer Scott Gardner (31), a former drug addict, shows that you don’t have to have a troubled childhood to fall into substance abuse.
He said, “I didn’t come from a bad background but I unfortunately made the wrong decisions and got into heroin, going deeper and deeper, and started mixing with the wrong crowd to get it and began supplying it.”
Fortunately he managed to turn his life around, getting on a methadone programme and becoming involved in Street Sport.
He said, “It was not until I started doing Street Sport and Street Sense that my family was saying I was looking a lot better.
“They are proud of me for what I’m doing now.
“If we can get at least one person who is never going to try heroin then we’ve done our job.”
NHS Forth Valley Health Promotion Officer Elaine Cochrane is convinced that learning first hand from people who have experienced crime is the best deterrent.
She said, “I think it has taken great courage for these volunteers to go into schools and youth groups.
“They are sharing what, after all, is a very personal and often frightening experience. Sometimes teenagers are not the easiest of audiences but youngsters are listening intently.
“At one school, pupils petitioned for Street Sense to return to speak to younger children.
“A Government minister has said that carrying a knife is a generational, almost cultural thing. We have to change that attitude.”
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