By Kristina Devlin

Giving people the facts to make their own decisions means you are empowering them. Telling them what to do is disempowering. With the Keep It Simple (KIS) project we want to inform party people of the harms that are associated with using party drugs. And more importantly, top tips in reducing those harms.

Many people grow out of their drug use before they cause any serious harm to themselves. Other people aren’t as lucky because their drug use has major repercussions on the rest of their life. That could be from accident, injury, assault, mental health problems or legal issues. Can educating party people prevent this?

The KIS project, Sydney

I coordinate the KIS project which trains up young party people with credible drug, mental health and sexual health information. The idea being they can then spread the word at dance events and festivals. They also spread the info through their friend networks.

We let people know about drug driving when it was introduced. We explained some of the impacts of drug use on mental wellbeing. We educated about ‘Liquid E’, Ice and PMA. We hammered home the signs of overheating and dehydration.

Peer education and why I love it!

This model of drug education, where party people spread the harm minimisation message is called peer education. Has anyone out there had contact with a peer project in a party setting? What kind of experience did you have?  

Our focus is harm minimisation not zero tolerance. This means we work with people who use drugs, who enjoy using drugs (most of the time), and who are not necessarily going to stop using drugs because someone else thinks they should. Controversial? Good sense? Waste of time?

Well, the debate about harm min v’s ‘just say no’ has been dragging on for years. The more conservative types would be pushing the ‘waste of time’ mantra. Why spend money trying to educate people, when it won’t stop them taking drugs?

Much of our education centres on common myths and how to reduce harms associated with drug use. Most people (and we know this from doing our own research) get their drug information from their more experienced drug using friends. Those friends generally got their information from their more experienced drug using friends.

This information is sometimes backed up by a personal experience which makes it, therefore, seemingly true. The fact is that drugs affect everyone differently. Your brain chemistry, your mood, your organ functioning and the presence of other drugs (be they herbal, pharmaceutical, legal or illegal) can make your drug experience not quite what you expected. It could be very different to what your mate said it would be like, even if you are taking the same drugs. Has this happened to you?

How it works

When peer education is working well and according to ‘best practice’ it means that credible, non-judgmental education goes viral via word of mouth.
•    It is a great way to reach people who would never go to a drug and alcohol agency.
•    It’s a great way to engage those who mistrust drug education because the shock tactics in the mass campaigns have missed their mark.
•    The KIS peer educators are approachable and while intensively trained, they don’t pretend to know it all.
•    They use drug quizzes to connect with people so their contact might be 5 minutes or 15 depending on whether the party person wants to talk more.
•    KIS peers have handy information about what/where/when services are available if needed.
•    Loads of people visit the KIS website after an event which means they always have access to our information if they want it. .

I’d love to go on but I guess that’s up to you ;-]