Bar staff taught drugs skills

Staff will be taught to spot danger signs of drug abuse

Heroine, crack cocaine and cocaine abuse is on the increase so much in Derby that the city's bar and club staff are being trained to tackle the problem.

Staff at 12 nightspots in the city are being taught drug awareness.

The venues are working together with "Addaction", an outreach charity that works throughout Derbyshire educating people about the dangers of drugs.

Bar staff have welcomed the move which will train them to spot danger signals and what to do in an emergency.

Help offered

Bar assistant Emma Gallager said: "If I was working here one night and someone had a fit or collapsed due to drugs, I would just feel awful, I wouldn't know what to do.

"This extra training makes me more aware of what to do in that kind of situation.

"It about how to stay safe, make the bar staff safe and make the customers safe. I feel a lot better."

Addaction already has a number of projects in the city working with both adults and younger people.

There is a day service provision which offers groupwork around personal development and relapse prevention, as well as acupuncture, IT and Art therapy.