More than 200 pubs across the Scotland are taking part in Know the Score Cocaine Awareness Weekends (CAWs) will start off in Edinburgh and Glasgow this weekend (28-30 Nov) for the second time round.
The initiative targets those aged 18 to 26 years in an effort to raise awareness of the risks of drugs in the run up to the festive season.
Gordon Meldrum, Director General, Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) said: “The Cocaine Awareness Weekends provide an opportunity to change attitudes by engaging directly with young people to highlight the dangers of cocaine use, which we hope will encourage them to think twice about using this drug – the risks are higher than people believe.”
Minister for Community Safety, Fergus Ewing said: “I’m delighted at the level of support from our local partners, in particular from so many licensees, for this important joint initiative.
“We are aware that many young people do not know the risks involved in cocaine use and we’re trying to ensure they have all the facts as well as making clear the legal consequences of drug misuse, people need to know the health risks, even from so-called ‘recreational’ use of cocaine. By doing just that, this campaign can help Scots enjoy the festive season in safety.”
These weekends will be running in Inverness, Renfrewshire, Dundee and Fife later on in December and provide information on the dangers of drugs across various social environments.
Click on the audio report by Ashley Toner here: Know the Score Interview
Claire Charras 
I can’t help but feel that should cocaine, or any other drug that is currently prohibited for that matter, be sold legally over the counter in a package on which health warnings are printed (like cigarette packets), that that would do more to increase awareness than this unambitious initiative. Despite warnings, one could argue that legalisation would increase the number of cocaine users, but perhaps that would be easier to swallow (or snort) if it could be shown that those greater numbers of users were using more safely. The sad thing is that even if conclusive evidence of this were available such a bold move would require more political will than those who come up with such initiatives such as Cocaine Awareness Weekends could possibly muster. As it stands, despite the initiative, the festive period was for many more than the previous one, a white Christmas.