Surrey Police and Surrey Crimestoppers have launched a CD to give lessons to parents on drug use.

Drugsmart is a multimedia CD aimed at parents to help them understand the drugs education programme given to school children in years five and six about legal and illegal drugs.

The CD, produced with support from Legal and General based in Kingswood, poses the question “Do your children know more about drugs than you?”

Research shows that communication between parents and children about drugs at an early age helps dispel myths and encourages them to talk about not only the drugs themselves but also the reasons behind why children try drugs in the first place.

Communication is given a boost when the right information is available to both parties, the children can make informed decisions and the parents are not left in the dark. The aim of the drugsmart CD is to encourage communication between children and parents.

The idea was initially brought to Surrey Police by a parent who was unable to attend the after-school session run by the police in his local school.

The disc will be distributed to all children in East Surrey just before they take part in the drugs education programme.

Sergeant Nicky Clark said: “As borough sergeant my role brings me into contact with young people on a regular basis and it is really important young people are aware of the dangers and harm that taking illegal drugs may cause them, and we hope that by giving parents and carers the correct information this will encourage effective communication about this vital topic”

Kevin Morris, Surrey Crimestoppers’ chairman said “Drug offences make up nearly 50 per cent of the Surrey calls to our 0800 555 111 number so it is clear the public are concerned with this problem and we will do all we can to help. We very much hope that parents find the CD useful and we are now looking at ways of making it more widely available to parents across the whole of Surrey.”

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