Recreational Drug use fueling knife crime

Going back to the youth club thing, my son attended one for years. He wasn't into sport and didn't really fit in with "typical male" activities. The club was brilliant and was in an area facing challenges. One of the main aims was to engage young people and prevent crime, including knife/gun crime. It served a very broad range of young people and they were enthused by so many brilliant activities,mostly Arts based.

It has closed down. The area is bleak, problems are on the up. So short sighted.

I totally agree with the fact that middle aged recreational drug users, who think there is nothing wrong with an occasional joint or line of cocaine have blood on their hands.

I am totally against drug use, but having listened to debates on the legalisation of drugs at least it would take out the gangs. Hopefully there would be less deaths as the contents of the drugs could be monitored.

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It's absolutely a complex problem, I'm not going to argue with anyone who says we need more police. I think in some ways, young people now have a far worse time than previous generations and more to fear. I certainly remember my kids hanging round parks mid teens, like the unfortunate young Jodie, it was a rite of passage and it was where they went to socialise, too young and not enough money for pubs etc. It seems to be a sad fact that kids aren't safe at school, or should I say beyond the school gates where some of the "recruiting" seems to take place. I do worry for my grandchildren, still quite young at the moment. I think something drastic action needs to be taken regarding the ever growing problem which is "county lines" it's already out of control.

What an awful and complex problem. What on earth is going so badly wrong?

I am not making a political point here but I think youth services played an absolutely vital and often unseen and undervalued role. Education has become a straight jacket and young people need somewhere to congregate and just be young people.