The dangers of legal highs

TAKEOVER . . . members of Oldham Youth Council take over Oldham CCG

TACKLING dangerous legal highs was top of the agenda when Oldham Youth Council took over at NHS Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group for a day.

Eight young people spent the day at the CCG’s headquarters in Ellen House to learn more about the NHS body and help to develop a campaign to raise awareness of legal highs in the borough.

Organised as part of Children’s Commissioner’s Takeover Challenge 2015, which puts children and young people into decision-making roles, the day gave the young people the opportunity to discuss the issue with expert Mike Linnell, who works as a consultant for Oldham Council’s public health team.

The group talked about the numerous challenges and risks associated with taking the kind of substances that are now readily available under the legal high label, sparking conversation and debate about the best way to tackle the topic within the local youth community.

Members of the youth council have already made significant headway in raising awareness of legal highs after proposing a motion at Oldham’s full council meeting earlier last month encouraging the local authority to raise awareness of the dangers associated with legal highs and even rename them “lethal highs”.

Carly Harper, engagement officer from Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “This was a great opportunity for us to engage with a group of young people living in our local communities and explain our role as a Clinical Commissioning Group to them.

“We wanted them to come away with an understanding of what we do, and to explain how their voice can be heard when we are shaping and developing health services.”

The teenagers, aged between 14 and 17, also took over the CCG’s twitter account on the day, keeping @oldhamccg’s twitter followers updated with the progress they were making on their campaign using the #takeoverchallenge hashtag.