As with criminal activity in general, many young people moderate or give up the use of illicit drugs once they become burdened with the constraints of adulthood. In this respect, harm minimisation can be seen as a holding operation in which the goal is to reduce the number and severity of casualties in young peoples' approach to maturity. A key principle of the approach is to respect the right of young people to make their own decisions regarding their drug use and to provide information skills tactics to limit the harm they may do to themselves and others. Peer education operates on the understanding that young people learn a lot from one another as part of their everyday lives and that peer groups play an important part in defining and maintaining their social networks. The principles underlying peer education sit well with a community development approach to ensuring that services and facilities are designed, developed and delivered in ways appropriate to the target audience.
Community development can of course mean different things to different people.
As Glen7 points out, within the global theme of community development a variety of approaches are encapsulated all of which focuses upon the participation of local people themselves and encouragement of their own initiatives. This coupling of community development and Enguzo Saba affords workers and participants the opportunity to ground practice within the framework and the existence of an identifiable community experience. The Asian, Afrikan and Carribbean Young Peoples' Peer Education Drugs Project, the practice upon which this discussion is based, is part funded by the East Midlands Drugs Prevention Initiative. The training undertaken by participants achieved accreditation through the Open College Network and therefore has currency beyond Leicester. The training programme sought to create opportunities for marginalised black young people, and give them opportunities to explore their personal beliefs, raise their own awareness of the issues involved and to develop sufficient confidence to be able to pass this information on in both formal and informal settings.