New Charité YouTube series explains drug risks to young people

“The dealer sells you the substance, we provide the leaflet,” says the new YouTube series ‘High on FAQts’, which aims to give young drug users practical information instead of moral lectures.

The five-episode project was developed by Berlin’s Charité university hospital and FAQ YOU, an education and awareness initiative for young people. Its first episode is now online, with the remaining four scheduled to appear weekly.

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Alcohol, smoking and drugs are bad for you, you know that. But we know you do it anyway. And bans have rarely helped.

The series addresses drugs including Monkey Dust, mephedrone and cychlorphine, which are described as increasingly widespread and sometimes highly potent in Germany. Many users are young and often do not know what substances contain or how dangerous they may be.

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The dealer sells you the substance, we provide the leaflet.

Moderator Joelle opens the first episode by acknowledging that alcohol, smoking and drugs are harmful, but that bans have rarely stopped people from using them. The program instead brings together people affected by drug use, doctors, psychologists and social workers, including several Charité experts.

Lukas Roediger, a doctor and researcher in the Charité psychiatry department, said new psychoactive substances create a particular challenge because professionals do not always know what they are dealing with, what risks the substances carry or how to prepare for them. The report said 2,150 people in Germany died from drugs last year, and one in four drug deaths involved someone younger than 30.

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New psychoactive substances that are not yet known in this form are a particular challenge because we do not yet know exactly what we are dealing with, what the risks are or what we need to prepare for.