DALE-MADE FILM HIGHLIGHTS DANGERS OF MEPHEDRONE

A TEESDALE filmmaker has joined forces with a local youth theatre
group to make a documentary

highlighting the dangers of legal high mephedrone.

Following the deaths of two teenagers from Scunthorpe last week, Sam
Forsyth of Teeny Tiny Films worked on the ten-minute drama, which it
is hoped will be screened in schools within weeks.

The film, which is produced by Durham Agency Against Crime, stars
actors from Bishop Auckland Theatre Hooligans (BASH), who were praised
by Mr Forsythe.

Everyone involved in the film hopes its stark realism of mephedrone's
side effects will make young people think twice before taking the drug
which is popular in Teesdale.

Last week, TV crews from ITV News at Ten visited Cockfield to report
on the origins of mephedrone, which was reportedly first widely used
in Teesdale.

The programme also showed footage of a 19-year-old Teesdale youth who
was jailed after taking the drug. The CCTV video taken in his cell
showed the teenager acting erratically.

Mr Forsythe, who co-wrote the film's script with Oliver Smith and Sara
Cox, said: "I was flattered to be asked to do the film because this it
is in the remit of Teeny Tiny Films was set up to do.

"I hope the film is an intelligent response to the problem of legal
highs - we know that some young people are going to do this drug we
just hope we can give them the mental tools to make an informed decision."

Actors and crew went on location at Witton Park and Barnard Castle
Police station and everyone involved worked for two days to complete
the filming of the project, which is now being edited in a bid to get
the film into schools more quickly.

Last week Lord Mandelson called for a review of the legality of the
drug.

However, Mr Forsyth said that even if the drug was made illegal,
problems with mephedrone, and other legal highs, will remain.

He said: "When it is made illegal young people are going to have the
problem of being criminalised so the film is going to be ever more
useful because the mephedrone situation is not going to just disappear."

Police recovered a quantity of mephedrone that had been dumped in
Barnard Castle over the weekend.