After graduation, I started to answer the needs of young people in the Upper Savinja Valley. At their request, I organized several events, including discussions with some services in the field of drug use. I carried out most of the suggestions from my graduation thesis, and to some young people in this context presented the risks they encounter in drug use. I also checked with all the mayors in the Upper Savinja Valley how many activities young people actually have and how much they are involved. I also went to all counselors at elementary schools in the valley and checked how much they talk about drug topics in elementary schools.
My research was action based, because I wanted to achieve concrete changes in the Upper Savinja Valley. In addition to discussions between young people and drug use services, polls with young people, interviews with mayors and counselors at all primary schools in the Upper Savinja Valley, interviews with an advisor at the Social Work Center in Mozirje, I invited organization DrogArt on two parties in the valley, where we informed the young people and we will continue to do so regularly.
Young people in the Upper Savinja Valley certainly have diverse interests and wishes for socializing, but may not realize, they have to actively work in this direction and organize themselves. The discussions were obviously helpful, according to the responses from the participants' questionnaires, as they mostly answered that they had learned something new and wanted to get to know some other service in the field of drug use. Young people are certainly more interested in harm reduction services, as they can talk more openly about drugs and also because they do not show signs of addiction and do not need high-threshold services.
In any case, it is necessary to maintain contact with drug services and encourage them to decentralize, as promised in the resolution on the national program in the field of drugs. With the organization DrogArt, we will definitely participate, but it would be worthwhile to invite other services in order to conduct discussions on the topic of drug use in the different municipalities in the Upper Savinja Valley.
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