The Drugs Box By Rich Mills

The Drugs Box; I'd heard of these things, I'd even seen one once, but never had a chance to have a go on one. So when I got the chance to see one in action I jumped at it. As an ex Drugs Worker, particularly having worked with young people, one of these would have been invaluable. A fully interactive, touch screen, educational tool, ideal for use in youth centres, schools and at any kind of community event.

In fact anywhere where there are people that may want to find out about the issues surrounding drugs and drug use. From the inquisitive mind wanting their questions answered, the curious child and the worried parent, all the way to the long term user thinking they know it all, there is an opportunity presented by The Drugs Box for everyone to learn something.

The Box itself learns too. Through its interactivity it can learn what the most popular sections people are looking at. Through an easy to use question and answer quiz section, it can collate information on people's knowledge and their own experiences involving drugs and their use. You know a new street name for cannabis that isn't scrolling along the bottom of the screen?

Tell them and it will soon be added to the list. And not just on The Drugs Box you are sitting in front of - all the other boxes will be up-dated with the new information too. This interactivity is not another way of finding out if you are a drug user, it's not asking you to grass on your mates, as it is totally anonymous. The idea is to find out what the current state of play is on the drugs scene, what are the popular drugs of the moment, what people are using and what do they know about them.

This kind of information is vital to everybody. From drugs projects and the police, all the way to the drug users themselves, access to and the passing on of such information helps save lives, and that can be nothing but a good thing. If, for example, the information being relayed by The Drugs Box in a local school suddenly shifted from searches for cannabis, to dozens of searches for crack, it would be a cause for concern.

The Drugs Box could potentially be an early warning system for a problem before it starts, or gets out of hand. Prevention as they say is better than cure.

It maybe nothing, just playground talk and curiosity that means that crack suddenly became a popular search, but it may also be a sign of something much worse on the horizon. At least with a system like The Drugs Box the school could be made aware of the changes in habit of the pupils using the box. Then their drugs education in the classroom could be focused accordingly, preventing mere curiosity from becoming a killer habit further down the road.

Sounds extreme? Not so. A lot of drug users start out as simply curious children, and end up as addicted adults. Who knows, that small piece of information provided by The Drugs Box could just save a life.

The Drugs Box is a portable touchscreen kiosk full of useful facts and advice about a range of drugs. As well as giving info The Drugs Box is a research tool, gathering user input and quiz answers to provide accurate and up-to-date research on drug awareness in your area.

Website www.thedrugsbox.com

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