Guest speaker Austin Low, www.timetastical.co.uk
My visit was a lot of fun. The kids and teachers were as you say enthusiastic and welcoming. They seemed to enjoy the session and the teachers seemed positive as well.
I began the session with a brief introduction to the current situation regarding drugs within the UK, mainly the Misuse of Drugs Act, and how current decisions are made. We then played a little game where they had to match causes of death from various things (drugs, accidents, etc) with the average death rate per year. The idea was to show them how statistics can often be used to paint any picture and encouraged them to look beyond simply numbers when facing this issue. We then looked at drug policy history worldwide.
After this we did a role play where they became the 'government'. They had just been presented with a series of 'drugs' as if they were brand new and had to decide what to do with them. This allowed them to discuss the issues surrounding drug policy. Myself and the teachers played devils advocate throwing in questions to attempt to derail there arguments. They showed considerable knowledge and critical thinking.
We finished up with a vote based on categories of there own choosing. They had to decide on full legalisation, partial or banning them all. In the end the majority voted for full, a few for partial and one for a full ban.
