Sensibility and harm reduction

Blaming young people for unregulated drugs use and sale highlights how low we do go in relation to criminality, says Janine Ewen, Early Career scholar and Harm Reduction Specialist.

I know first-hand the realities of what can happen growing up in intergenerational cycles of disadvantage and around the not so hidden realities where criminal exploitation takes place; all of my early peers never had any of those essential safeguards, protections and opportunities were (without a doubt) in short supply. Children and young people who are at risk of being in exploitative situations are likely to come from oppression and poverty, violent homes or are in care; and this isn’t even a full list. It takes an astronomical amount of mental backbone to grapple with the early collapsing and toxic family dynamics, being on the receiving end of struggle and scrutiny at school, the multiple different faces of social workers, police and school officials. It’s enough to make anyone feel dizzy, and we know there is more hardship ahead.

This year, most of the 2024 cases of young people in the northeast or north of Scotland going through the criminal justice system are in relation to illicit drug markets and exploitation, highlighting why we need to be increasingly mindful of a system which shows inconsistencies in its judgments and protections. We have learned of young people being spared, but for others, despite similar circumstances of unemployment, debt and force, they’re being made to suffer the consequences; we know the system can make inconsistencies in judging how they view young people as having potential or not. One young person can be viewed favourably for having passed their exams, the judges indicating their potential, but for others, there can be no mention of their future hopes or aspirations. Also, how can we sideline the realities of low pay, insecure work, and the rising cost of living that are pushing too many young people into impossible situations, so without sounding doom and gloom, there are no guarantees anymore of secure and well-paid work with or without qualifications. And those people with zero intentions to improve the lives of young people who are making millions on selling youth dreams; if only we could draw on all forms of exploitation that harm our young people; there’s an unacceptable number of treadmills to nowhere.

It’s the sad truth that we have seen over ten-month sentences being issued with the confidence that this will, “break the cycle” – a belief continually peddled while always expecting a different result but what startled me the most this year was the finger pointing and media shaming towards a young person for the mix of potent and unpredictable chemicals in the illegal drug supply. We blame young people for a lot of issues out with their own control, but now for unregulated drugs which is a totally bizarre consideration when that only relates to drug policy control. The pressures caused by criminalisation mean there is no guarantee of the purity of these drugs – they could be contaminated or mixed with toxic ingredients that could cause serious harm, even death, but young people are not responsible for this situation. Even if they are involved in dealing, trying to get out of harms ways from debts and violence, they are not to blame for these dangers.  Disapproval and frustration are useless here.

Young people are at risk of being judged as societal crooks as soon as drugs are mentioned; this often occurs long before an arrest, and certainly once an arrest takes place, all the way to the courts. Despite the risk of social hostility this can cause towards young people, I hope that the public will continue to think critically about safeguarding and the root causes of why this happens.

Ultimately, the shift from victim to perpetrator is a consequence of safeguarding failures and failures of unmet needs. We need to focus on getting basic child protections right, or seeing the child/young person first before the ‘offender’ label is slapped on them. We absolutely need to make sure support is given before young people encounter the criminal justice system. Lastly, it’s also vital to keep a strong focus on discussing and seeking developments in how we can deliver the best prevention and harm reduction on the ground. Drugs can feature in young people’s lives when they are on the fringes of exploitative drug markets, but young people do encounter drugs out with exploitation. Therefore, thinking about the spectrum of harm more broadly will help us to provide contextual community-led and -level support – to meet young people’s needs in the reality of their lives. Let’s be sensible and never lose sight of vulnerabilities and disadvantages (the real injustices).

Written by Janine Ewen. Janine is an Early Career scholar (ECR) and Harm Reduction Specialist. She has been instrumental in helping to build local harm reduction provision to protect against criminal drug networks and criminalisation in northeast Scotland and developed a specialist service for children and young people dealing with the trauma from domestic abuse. She is part of the Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association (GLEPHA) and she has helped to develop consultation developments on the policing of vulnerable populations across Europe. She regularly writes on childhood trauma, young people and harm reduction. She is soon to publish a new framework template and guidance to help practitioners and academics to develop needs-based not enforcement led assessments for underserved populations at community level.