Notes • The article is written with a young, liberal readership in mind. Publications that could be appropriate include: The Huffington Post, The Washington Post and the independent Leeds based organisation Frontline Presents. The Tab could also be suitable but this would mean a change in the language used to describe the initial study, as it was their study. • The content might also be used as an example piece for a concept magazine. The concept for the magazine is an independent printed free magazine, similar to the first UK editions of Vice released in 2002. The editorial tone would be in between Vice and Monster Children (Australia) and the focus would be news (from a differing angle to popular media), music, arts, food and sports. The pilot issue would be released in Leeds, local advertisers would cover the costs and the issue would be handed out to prospective readers on the street. • Vice sold stakes in the company to Disney and Fox (owned by Rupert Murdoch) in 2013/14, though allegedly retaining complete creative control this has still disillusioned many of Vice’s regular readers and stockists, as such the printed version of the magazine is becoming harder to obtain. This has produced a small gap in the market for a similar magazine, but with less hypocrisy. • The inclusion of Monster Children as an inspiring editorial tone was brought about by the discovery that there is nothing like this currently in the UK, which identifies a gap. • The plan for the article to develop from here is to examine the prohibition of drugs and determine whether the UK principles around this area are effective in tackling the problem, or whether they are partly responsible for the increasingly large economic value of the illegal drugs trade, letting dangerous criminals make huge amounts of money and also the ease at which anybody, from minors to vulnerable adults can purchase completely unregulated dangerous substances. • Quotes from some of the individuals surveyed might be added to further strengthen current copy. • Pull Quotes and a Box Out are also planned, layout is a first draft. • The Drop Cap traditionally begins the main body of the copy, It is a design idea to have it beginning the Stand First instead. References (article) The Tab (n.d.) Everyone Reads It [Online]. Available from <http://thetab.com/about-us> Accessed [14th October 2015]. The Tab (20th May 2013) Revealed: Who does the most drugs? [Online]. Available from http://thetab.com/uk/ cambridge/2013/05/20/revealed-who-does-the-most-drugs-23071>Accessed [15th October 2015]. 10% of UK graduates educated in Leeds (n.d.) Available from:<http://www.leeds-city-guide.com/Body> Accessed [1st November 2015]. Images 1st Page Image (Oct 2015) Authors own image. 2nd Page Image (n.d.) [Online]. Available from:< http://previews.123rf.com/images/photosiber/photosiber1211/ photosiber121100034/16493525> References to evidence the suitability of organisations mentioned above http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/10/ireland-accidentally-legalized-a-bunch-of-drugs-but-onlyuntil-thursday/ https://frontlinepresentstheblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/23/wacky-races-2/ http://thetab.com/about-us Sources of inspiration for concept magazine and editorial tone Vice: <http://www.vice.com/en_uk> Monster Children:< http://www.monsterchildren.com>
Leeds students sustain UK’s largest black market for drugs
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rom September until Christmas anyone with access to the black market and a little cash for a kick-start, can make enough money selling drugs to students in Leeds to not have to work for the rest of the year.
The above photograph shows an example of some of the cards I acquired, from the people I felt looked the least dodgy and likely to not mind a chat. They are, however, just a few in terms of how many were offered in just over two weeks.
For me and most of the other students and young people living in Leeds today it has become the norm to be approached by individuals, either working for these illicit vendors or by dealers themselves, almost every time we go out. They offer cards, pens and even lighters with their business name and number on and rarely anything else. They then either recite a list of psychoactive substances you can purchase through them, or say nothing as though you’re already supposed to know. What’s more the actual ordering comes with 24/7 free delivery, so I guess you’d need to be able to drive too, to really compete.
Wondering why this market seemed to be proportionally bigger than in other cities, or at least a lot more indiscreet, I took to the Internet for some much-loved research. I found articles mostly about students taking drugs, one about a young business student caught my eye. He’d finished university but stayed in Leeds to develop what became an allegedly huge drug ring, before the police caught him. The large market could then have formed due to other students taking a similar path. 10% of all UK graduates were educated in Leeds, a good deal of graduates each year stay in Leeds too and with the current employment market for graduates in a dip it wouldn’t be surprising if part of the After a while I began taking whatever reason for the expanding drugs market in was supplied with the details and talking Leeds was the unemployment crisis. to the people handing them out. The last card I accepted was called PC Doc, it A more thorough search led to an article by had pictures of tech on it but as I looked The Tab, a student news site specializing in the man who had handed me it assured the coverage of “news students care about, me “it’s not for PCs though yeah?” The in a style they actually want to read.” The information above was gathered from article from 2013 refers to a nationwide other students and the people giving out study conducted by The Tab to produce phone numbers, who were more than statistics on substance abuse in student willing to chat about their illegal affairs in populations. The findings are outlined most cases. under the headline “Revealed: Who does the most drugs?” With Leeds taking 1st place and Manchester closely following.
The question then: has this news influenced the seemingly saturated market we experience today? To answer this more information needed to be sourced from young people living in Leeds since before the publication of this news. This was an easy task to complete since 18-25 year olds and students make up over half of the population of Leeds. I started by targeting these people and recording their answers to a series of anonymous questions, the results are featured in the table below.
I conducted the research in the Hyde Park and Headingley areas of Leeds because these areas have a large student and young person population. I made special effort to ask an equal ratio of women to men to keep the results as unbiased and accurate as possible. For really precise results a much larger sample of people would be needed, but as a starting point the results do confirm that a large majority of young people (92.86%) have been targeted by drug dealers at least once. 92.31% of these have noticed an increase in the amount this is happening in the past few years. The results also raise questions about the ethical responsibilities of journalists regarding the effects on society certain published work can have, an example of the ever prominent dilemma journalists face; deciding whether it is still important to keep people informed when this action can produce an adverse
This table shows data collected from 14 individuals in Headingley and Hyde Park on Saturday the 7th of November 2015