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Y-SMART

Youth – Substance Misuse, Advice, Recovery, Treatment

A young person’s story (age 15)


Tell us how you came to work with Y-Smart?

“I started smoking weed in Year 7 with some mates.   By the time I got to year 9 I asked a guy who was in the year above whether he wanted any help with dealing it. He would give me some cannabis to give to people but mostly in school.  It would be £10 for 1g.  I would give money straight back to him and then get 2g back in payment.

I started selling on the school bus and someone reported it to the teachers. I eventually got caught dealing in school and my Mum also found me in the garden with it. I was excluded for 1 week and isolated for another.  I was quite scared as my parents found out.  I stopped dealing to most people straight away.

Midway through Year 9 I started on speed and acid as I wanted to try something new.  I liked speed as it helped me get my feelings out but I’m not too fond of acid. When I got to Year 10 I started using MDMA loads and was addicted to it taking it week after week.  Last time I took a pill I had a bad experience I saw a girl in front of me. I blacked out and felt like I had no control.  I saw my childhood looking into the hedge.  It felt like I died, felt like I blacked out for 2 hours.  I saw things I did when I was younger.  When I came back to being awake I didn’t know what to do.  I kept feeling sick.  I just wanted to stop and come down but it took a good few hours to feel normal again. I tried to stop taking it throughout year 10.

I worked with my Y-Smart worker firstly in a group and then one to one.  I worked with them for just over a year.  They told me what could happen. It opened my eyes to what may happen in my future. They gave me information about the drugs. They gave me ways to reduce and then stop my use”.

How are you now?

“I have been drug-free for 3 months. I have changed my friendship group.  I now have non-using friends. I don’t want to do drugs again”.

How do you see your future?

“Not perfect but I want to regain what I lost during the time when I used to bunk off doing lessons. I stopped in the nick of time to rescue my GCSEs”.

What advice would you give to young people?

“My advice would be to get out of taking drugs any way you can.  I would recommend seeing Y-Smart.  Don’t start taking drugs it’s not a good road to go down and it doesn’t make you feel good in the long run.  Don’t deal because you will get caught and it wasn’t good, especially with people you hang around with”.


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