briefing pack

No child grows up with a life

ambition of becoming a drug addict,

yet this year alone, more than one

million UK Children will use drugs or

alcohol for the first time.

Although many of these will survive the encounter and go on to become healthy and capable adults, far too many won’t. This means many more ruined and unhappy lives. Today’s children are tomorrow’s adults, so this means the loss to society of many of its able citizens. It also means delinquency, crime and excessive strain on the country’s health service.

I have made it my mission to do something about this problem. I provide education about drugs in a format that children can relate to, understand and use so as to make the decision not to do drugs.

Since 2005 I have provided drug education talks to an average of 15,000-20,000 people - mostly children – per year in schools across the country.

My very good friend, Danny Fitzgibbon, has very heroically volunteered to row the Atlantic solo and unassisted in October 2014 so as to raise funds for my not-for-profit drug education work. This is a tremendously tough and dangerous undertaking and a measure of Danny’s personal support for my efforts.

The funds raised will help me bring this vital education to every child on the country so that no child misses out.

I am asking you therefore to help us by sponsoring him in whatever amount you feel would be appropriate.

By its very nature, an undertaking as dramatic as a trans-Atlantic row is a newsworthy and high-profile event that will attract a lot of interest, particularly given the popular nature of the cause for which the funds are being raised.

Along with the media exposure there will be a video made of the journey, regular video and other updates on our blog and social media, regular press releases, an online monthly magazine (which will also be emailed to about 750 000 UK businesses) and after the venture is complete, a book ghost-written by a professional writer who has already pledged his services.

Space is still available for large sponsors to display their company logo on the boat itself and due mention and credit will be given on our website, blog and throughout our social media updates. We intend to give a good return-flow in exchange for your generosity and our sponsorship packages are outlined in this briefing pack.

I appreciate that this brief introduction may still leave you with many questions so if you would like to discuss this venture further, please don’t hesitate to contact me personally by email at druglecture@gmail.com or by phone on 07824 398683.

Danny and I sincerely hope that we can count on your support. Thank you!

Peter Dwan

PD Drug Education: 18 Nona Street, Salford, Greater Manchester M6 5PG. Phone: 07824398683 Email: druglecture@gmail.com Website: www.mypinkbugatti.com

Not-for-profit drug education: bringing teachers, parents and

children the truth about drugs.

by Peter Dwan

Child Drug Use Statistics

Currently, there are almost 13 million children in the UK. The various UK drug statistics demonstrate drug use amongst our children at an increasingly younger age. The Home Office have published that:

"1 in 12 of 12-year-olds have tried drugs . . . "

"as have 1 in 3 [33%] of 14-year-olds . . . ”

"2 in 5 [40%] of 16-year-olds . . "

Other drug and alcohol statistics tell us that

3,000 UK children try drugs and/or alcohol for the first time, each day.

The result is that more than one million children newly add to drug and alcohol statistics in a single year.

More than a quarter of a million UK children experiment with drugs (excluding alcohol), every year.

No child ever says: “when I grow up I want to be a drug addict”

Yet so many of them do! One in ten of all child drug users progress to harder, addiction-forming drugs, escalating to the likes of heroin, crack cocaine and crystal meth etc. This means that each year, an average of 25 thousand children will fall into addiction and become registered drug addicts when older.

These drugs create a burden on the tax payer through the need to treat the many resultant physical and mental health problems and the provision of rehabilitation services. Moreover, drug

addiction is notoriously difficult to resolve once it has taken hold. It renders what were once bright children with their futures in front of them, a burden on society. The strain on the addict’s family is colossal and frequently insurmountable; many addicts spiral down into prostitution and crime, becoming unemployable, possibly even living on the streets.

When the addict was a child, he or she did not have a life ambition to become what they have now become.

Subject to peer pressure, tricks, lies and persuasions by those who want them to buy their drugs – for life - and having insufficient knowledge or life experience to deal with them, none could foresee where experimentation with drugs would take them.

They were merely lacking proper drug education!

But it doesn't have to be this way. Effective drug education is, of course, the answer.

It is generally known that children are becoming more and more exposed to drugs and pro-drug persuasions and have more easy access to them than children would have had just ten or twenty years ago.

This is a brutal fact of modern life and something of a nightmare for parents.

The question is: how do we equip children to walk safely through this minefield?

Common sense tells us that early education against drug use is of course, the answer. In fact, it is the only answer: threats, punishment, moralising, pleading and scare tactics have not worked. By education is meant giving the child factual information that he can understand and relate to at his current level of life experience, then use to make his own rational decisions about drugs.

Yet teachers are aware that Drug Education is outside their own field of expertise. Indeed it is outside the expertise of most parents who are unsure how to approach the subject with their children to best results.

Therefore, I provide drug education to teachers, parents and most importantly, to school children.

I aim to provide this vital education to children BEFORE they come into contact with drugs and BEFORE they can be subjected to the lies and sales pitches of drug profiteers. It is essential that every child is provided with the vital truths regarding the harmful effects and longer term consequences of drug use at a relatively early age, so that they might not have the desire or interest to use drugs when they do come into contact with them and the attendant peer pressures in the future.

It is vital that our children are provided with effective education so that they can be empowered to make informed choices. After all, in so many cases, those educated choices can be the difference between life and death.

I know that I get the message across because surveys and letters from children tell me I did. And teachers write rave recommendations and request that I return to their schools year after year. Last year, a survey of teachers, asking questions such as whether they would recommend my talks to other schools, returned a ONE HUNDRED PERCENT positive response.

I've received inspiring and heart-warming comments from many children who say they will cease taking drugs as a direct result of my drug awareness session in their school. Most say they will never begin to take drugs now they understand them.

I now have a huge file full of such feedback and success stories and include a tiny sampling with this briefing. More are available on request.

These heartfelt success stories bring home the problems that many young people face, where they might resort to drugs/alcohol in an attempt to mask day-to-day problems, completely unaware and uneducated that drugs and alcohol actually add to and complicate the very problems they are trying to erase.

As adults, we have a duty to educate our children so they have a better chance of a better future and an education in drugs is probably one of the most vital life educations there is!

Drug statistics are reversible

Demonstrating that Drug Education works, National surveys published only a few months ago showed how drug

education had improved statistics of drug use compared to those of 10 years previous. Interestingly, those nationwide surveys showed 3 regions as having the most marked improvements. Two of these were my “home turf”, the areas where I currently give most of my talks; Yorkshire and the North West! My own efforts to educate children against drug use have contributed enormously to this win. I can proudly say that due to drug education, drug use in the North is not only on the decline, but this decline is at a faster rate than anywhere else in the UK!

Reversing the decline

The task before me now is to bring this education to ALL schools and ALL children in the UK. While, each year, I have been able to reach an average of 15,000-20,000 children and give them this vital drug education, many more children miss out on the opportunity to become empowered to say 'No' to drugs. The next phase of setting up a drug-free future for the UK includes:

Getting videos of my talks into every school in the country. Several thousand of these have already been distributed but with over 30,000 schools in the UK, there is a lot more to be done.

Seminars to train parents and teachers in how to talk to their children effectively about drugs

Training other drug education presenters in my successful actions so that they too can go out and do what I do.

There are about ten-and-a-half million school children in the UK and the cost of delivering my talks comes to about £1 per child. Obviously I cannot do this alone, without your support and the help of my many friends. Many schools request my services and there is a crying need for them if we are going to truly take action to safeguard the future of our children.

A solo and unassisted row across the Atlantic Ocean by Danny Fitzgibbon.

The journey will take approximately three months depending on weather and ocean currents.

Danny will row east to west, approximately 3,000 miles roughly along the tropic of Capricorn from Gran Canaria off the coast of Morocco to Barbados in the West Indies.

As fewer people have rowed the Atlantic than have climbed Mount Everest, such adventures capture a great deal of public interest and media attention.

The event will accordingly be used to:

raise awareness of Peter Dwan’s drug education crusade

secure sufficient funds in the form of donations and sponsorships to begin the mammoth task of stamping out drugs in the UK by bringing effective drug education to every child in the country

to foster a sense of community across the whole nation, of all of us working shoulder-to-shoulder in a united effort to resolve a problem that faces us all.

Major sponsors(see below) have the prime promotional opportunity to have their company name/logo on the boat and the attendant exposure and favourable publicity. Promotional space on the boat itself is still, at this writing, available.

Thee boat will be named the Urban Warrior

There are in existence a limited number of boats specially built and equipped for the unique adventure of Atlantic rowing.

We have a number of possible boats in mind and the picture opposite is of one such vessel.

Once purchased, the boat will be used to complete Danny’s arduous training for the Atlantic crossing, which will include practice runs across the open sea and along the coast.

It will also be used for promoting the row and for fundraising before and after the row itself: photo opportunities, media and display at public events and so forth.

Pete Dwan [right] Pete is a father and grandfather. He is a former addict who kicked drugs, took up boxing and then Thai boxing and went on to become the British Thai Boxing champion. He now devotes his life to helping children, through his community work and most notably through his highly successful drug education talks in schools across the UK and Ireland. His website is at www.mypinkbugatti.com

Danny Fitzgibbon [left] A father himself and inspired by Peter’s work with children, Danny contacted Pete and offered his services for a trans-Atlantic row to raise funds for Pete’s not-for-profit drug education work. His website is at http://rowtheocean.com

Pupils’ feedback- their answers to after-talk surveys

Did you find the information useful?

"Yes because I wasn’t sure if drugs were good or bad."

"Yes, I can now convince my uncle and gran to stop smoking and my dad not to get drunk all the time."

"Yes because I never thought of drugs killing you."

"Yes because I can tell my Dad what to do and what not to do "

"Yes, because now I can tell other people the real harm with the right understanding."

"Yes, because now I know why I should not take drugs."

"Yes, because I thought drugs were just for fun."

"Yes because my dad is a drug addict so I can share the information."

Other comments

"I thought it was excellent as it was explained clearly."

"I thought the talk was really interesting because instead of rambling on, like some visitors, he made it fun and also got the facts through."

"I thought the talk was helpful because children our age might not know the effects of drugs and now we do know the effects."

"It was very good because it taught us about why drugs are bad and now we understand."

"I found it very important. It told me how dangerous drugs can be."

"Pete was a legend, he was funny and explained all his facts in a way we wouldn't find boring."

"It was pretty cool and swag because he was funny and confident on stage and I learnt some interesting facts and he used his own personal experiences which made it that bit better.”

"I can use what I’ve learnt to never use drugs and also not to judge people because he was really nice."

"Very inspirational and well presented. Didn't treat audience as children and true scenarios and from someone who knows what he’s talking about.”

"I enjoyed listening to Pete and his story. He is a very inspirational man. Good Job!"

"I thought it was brilliant and should also be shown to adults. Pete was an inspiration. Very Informative."

"Yes because it taught me that drugs can make you high and also taking them can lead to addiction and death. And it really helped me change my mind about drugs."

"Yes because if you wouldn't of come in today we might of started to take drugs and alcohol."

Did your thought change after hearing the talk?

"Yes because I thought drugs were a good thing."

"Yes because I thought not all these things can harm you."

"Yes because I did not know drugs were bad for you."

"Yes because it made me realize that drugs can leave you very ill."

" Whenever I heard the word drugs I used to get scared but now I know that you've explained it really well so I know defiantly I don’t want any."

"I have refused drugs in my life, he has helped my understanding."

"It further solidified my opinion on drugs and not to take them."

"I was considering doing blow and skunk but this has changed the way I feel about life. I have been enlightened by Pete and his inspiring speech. I will set a goal and put some effort to achieve it. High on life!"

Teachers’ feedback - their answers to after-talk surveys

"Pete captured the children’s interest from the start (very easy going). Was able to break it down with lots of illustrations."

"Very personable and honest with someone who had been through real life experiences. Good sense of humour of which the kids could relate to."

"It was lovely to see my pupils’ faces when you did your talk. They were engaged and appeared to take on board what you were telling them.”

"It was interesting to hear real life stories and inspiring to see how someone had turned their life around."

"I felt the speaker was inspirational and carried the children’s interest."

"Fantastic. Exactly the right person to do this. Streetwise, informative and engaging."

"I Really liked the way Pete acted out each point of the story and made it really interactive for the children. Very entertaining."

"Great Delivery ! Factual. Spoke in language that the children understood. Held the children’s

interest. Made it fun and engaged them."

"Fantastic explanation and descriptions at the children’s level and ability to understand."

"Very engaging - great real life stories and examples. The children were all interested and focused. They enjoyed hearing Pete’s own story. Pete made it very easy to understand but talk about very mature topics. Very memorable - the children all remembered the key facts. I learned a lot too!"

"Nicely structured - good level of information and explanations for the age group. Very engaging speaker (nice that he had personal experience)."

"It was excellent. Facts delivered in a clear and direct way. Kids completely engaged for the whole time and really important messages communicated and shared. Not scaremongering but very positive focus on choices, goals and effort."

"I thought the honest approach to the facts was a positive change to the approach of just "Say No."

"It was presented with style and passion. Delivery was perfectly geared to the audience and clearly from the heart. It’s a difficult subject for a teacher but your confident style encouraged me. As a teacher you have empowered me to get to the basic facts and relay them. I've seen forests of drug programs that achieved only a fraction of what you did in an hour. Thank you!"

“Hi Pete, You came to my school a number of

months ago but I never had the guts to message

you. I used to be seriously depressed and drink

alcohol to escape the real life. Seeing you stand up

at my school and make people smile and realise the

effects of harmful drugs and alcohol. I never dared

tell my parents about this so I (This Was How Bad It

Was) I faked appendices to get help of doctors. I

was monitored by doctors for months. I’ve always

had a mad obsession with rugby since I was young.

When u started talking about how u became a boxer

made me think what have I done with my life. I went

home that day and started running. I lost 4 stone and

I play . . . for my local rugby team now. . . . you sir

are an inspiration to everyone. Thank you.” Pupil

“I just wanted to drop you a note to say “Thank You”. You visited my son’s school today . . . after a long day at work I only managed to get home at 8:30 pm so I hadn’t seen [my son] all day. When we got to talking about his day at school started to tell us about a man who came to his school to do a talk about drugs. For the next 15 minutes he relayed everything you had said to his class. He started to explain how drugs affect your body and how alcohol is made and how it is advertised to young children. He started to explain how bad it is for you and the long-term effects it can have on the human body. For the next 15 minutes we never said a word; we just listened to him talk to us about what he had learned in such an interested and knowledgeable way. The level of detail and the amount of information he went into and the amount of information he had retained was remarkable. He then started to show us your website (which he obviously remembered quite easily: “Pink Bugatti”). I have never seen him so interested in a subject and so eager to explain it to us. I genuinely believe you made a difference to how he thinks about drugs and alcohol today, which we could never hope to do. Your story clearly made a connection with [my son] and hopefully influenced him to see alcohol and drugs for what they really are. I would go as far as to say that you inspired him. Thank you so much and please continue doing what you do. By the way, I am also a Cub Scout leader and look after a pack of about 30 Cubs. I think they too would really benefit from listening to you so if you have any further details about the talks you do and how to arrange them I would be grateful if you would send them on to me.” Parent

Gold Sponsors (£5000 plus) will get their name on the boat, which is to be called the “Urban Warrior”. We should mention in passing that we are raising funds for drug education and the drive to stamp out drugs in the UK. Drugs are by survey a primary concern for people across the country and people seen to be doing something about the drugs problem tend to receive very favourable public response – even more so when children are concerned..

Once the boat is secured, Danny will be using it to raise funds prior to his trans-Atlantic row. This will involve taking every opportunity for the boat to be seen, such as:

Taking it on a trailer by open road, through towns and villages to venues around the country.

Rowing the boat along the Thames and in and around coastal waters. This will be part of Danny’s training and acclimatization in any case but, again, every opportunity will be taken for the boat to be seen, noticed, filmed and photographed in order to get media attention and pour coals on the fund raising effort. This will be backed up by regular press releases.

During the row itself, we naturally expect a great deal of public and media interest, particularly as fewer people have rowed the Atlantic than have climbed Mount Everest! Feedback from previous trans-Atlantic rowers tells us to expect a naturally heightened media interest once Danny is at sea. We will be doing everything we can to feed that interest through press releases and daily blog updates

featuring video clips from Danny on the boat and a radio link so that Danny can give interviews.

After the row is finished, the boat will continue to be displayed around the country at public events, schools, talks and similar venues as a continued fund raising effort.

This means that the gold sponsor’s name/logo will be seen whenever and wherever the boat is seen – and the boat by its very nature will be an attention-grabber. Exposure will be cultivated not just during the row itself when the boat is at sea but most importantly before and after the row when the boat will in fact be more easily seen, more directly by more people.

The gold sponsor will also get a free half-page ad in the Adventurer magazine. The magazine will be launched in July 2014 and be emailed to about three quarters of a million UK businesses. A “Junior Adventurer” will be mailed to about thirty thousand UK junior schools. Both magazines will also be promoted on the social networks and through our own mailing lists and supporters. The major sponsor’s ad will appear in each monthly edition of both magazines for a total of ten months – until April 2015. Each gold sponsor will also receive a full page advertorial about their business or a good cause of their choosing in one edition of the magazine sent to UK businesses.

The gold sponsor will also be featured prominently on the “sponsors” page of the Row the Ocean website.

The Adventurer Magazine

and the Junior Adventurer

The Adventurer magazine will launch

in July.

It will be mailed monthly to about

750,000 UK businesses and,

additionally, promoted heavily on our

social networks and websites and to

our supporters and our own mailing

lists.

At the same time a version of The

Adventurer for children – the “Junior

Adventurer” – will be mailed to

30,OOO UK junior schools

The UK currently holds the unenviable

title of the drug addiction capital of

Europe’

Those of us who are on board (excuse

the pun) with Peter Dwan and his

mission to stamp out drugs in the UK

regard it as unacceptable that our

children and fellow citizens should be

prey to the misery and ruined lives that

drugs bring.

So we intend to do something about it.

In fact we intend to reverse it and

make the UK the first drug-free country

on Earth.

And Danny Fitzgibbon has taken that

dedication to a new level by putting his

own life on the line. This is high

adventure and a star-high goal but it

can be done!

It requires vision and a willingness to

play the long game, harnessed to the

means by which to achieve the goal.

In Pete’s successful drug education

method we have the means and it

remains to us to help him bring it to

every school and every child in the

country in a sustained crusade over a

number of years. The accomplishment

of any task requires the correct

estimation of effort and this is the effort

that will be required. Yet the rewards

will be tremendous.

Part of that correctly estimated effort is

the factor of teamwork, of all of us and

the nationwide community working

together to bring all this about.

And, of course, it requires funding in

the form of financial contributions large

or small: they ALL help. We estimate it

takes on average £2 per child to bring

children the benefits of Peter’s drug

education talks, whether by Peter

himself or by teachers and parents

trained by Peter in his successful

methods.

There’s work to be done: will you help

us?

How to donate Please make cheques payable to

“PD Drug Education” and send to the address below.

Or use the “donate” button to pay

securely by Paypal at

www.mypinkbugatti.com or

http://rowtheocean.com

For more information or if you have any questions or

would like to help, please write to:

PD Drug Education 18 Nona Street, Salford, Greater

Manchester M6 5PG.

Or Phone: 07824398683

Or Email: druglecture@gmail.com