The Showcase of the BUZZ programme in LEAP took place at the Drummond Hotel, Ballykelly, on Wednesday (16th June) as part of the Alternative Education Presentation Day for the Limavady Educational Alternative Provision (LEAP) and the Dungiven Alternative Education Provision (DAEP). The showcase celebrated all the hard work of the Year 11/12 LEAP class as part of the class’s BUZZ Programme which had taken place during the nine weeks beforehand.

Each BUZZ Programme for each participating class varies but, with LEAP, the young participants were first given a presentation by the Limavady PSNI on drug facts and the law then, after some other relevant art and discussion-based activities, the class began to work on a drink spiking awareness campaign after voicing their concerns on the matter. Through a process of modelling, photography, computer image design and slogan/text creation, the class developed highly professional, extremely eye-catching and hard-hitting cards which will be placed around bars, nightclubs and youth clubs, etc, in the Limavady Borough and well beyond warning people of the very real possibility of having their drinks spiked with drugs. The cards also provide the following information on how people can try to protect themselves:

DRINK SPIKING is more common than you might think!
For your own safety.
NEVER leave your drink unattended while you dance or go to the toilet.
Don’t drink or taste anyone else’s drink.
NEVER accept a drink handed to you by a stranger or any drink you haven’t seen poured.
Develop the habit of holding your thumb over your bottle or your hand over your glass - avoid wide-brimmed glasses.
Dispose of your drink if you think it tastes odd - although remember that some drugs used in spiking incidents are tasteless.
If you suddenly begin to feel ‘unusual’, leave immediately with a trusted friend.

Please note that a common drug used in drink spiking, called Rohypnol, is now being manufactured to contain blue dye which will turn a drink blue. It will also turn a drink cloudy (just in case someone is drinking a blue drink). In general, you should remember that if your drink looks odd in anyway, LEAVE IT!

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