From prevention messaging to lived experience, child rights and meaningful participation
Why children affected by substance use must be part of the global conversation on prevention, recovery and public health.
The right to a drug-free childhood cannot be secured through prohibition, awareness campaigns or enforcement alone. It requires safe environments, supportive families, responsive institutions and opportunities for children and young people to be heard.
As the international community comes together for the Children Matter International Forum on the Right to a Drug-Free Childhood, organised by the Fourth Wave Foundation in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in Kochi, Kerala, from 12–14 November 2026, an important question deserves greater attention:
Are we listening to children whose lives are already affected by substance use, or are we primarily speaking about them?
The forum's theme, Youth Drug Prevention in the Digital Age, brings timely attention to how digital environments, influencers, storytelling and online spaces are shaping young people's experiences and choices. These are important dimensions of contemporary prevention.
However, the discussion must also recognise children who are already experiencing substance use, those exposed to substance use within their families, and those struggling with emotional distress, neglect, exploitation and social exclusion.
Prevention must begin before a child becomes a patient, but it must also remain relevant when a child needs protection, care, treatment and recovery support.
A young person's response that deserves to be heard
During his social work internship with Nada India Foundation in June–July 2026, Deepanshu Kumar explored substance-use prevention, rehabilitation services, youth awareness and community-based interventions.
One interaction particularly influenced his understanding.
While speaking with a young person using MDMA, he asked why he had started using the substance. The response was:
"Bhaiya, I take it because I cannot sleep."
This simple statement raises important questions about how we understand substance use among young people.
What lies behind the behaviour? Is it stress, anxiety, sleep disturbance, peer influence, emotional distress or an unmet need for support?
We cannot assume that one response explains every young person's experience. But we must recognise that substance use may be connected to wider psychosocial and mental health concerns that require careful assessment and appropriate support.
Deepanshu's internship also involved awareness sessions on tobacco, nicotine, vaping and drugs, research on rehabilitation services, and exposure to counselling, group therapy, family support and relapse prevention.
His learning was particularly important: addiction is a health concern, not a moral failure. Prevention requires awareness, early identification, access to counselling and supportive relationships.
For professionals working in child protection and public health, such encounters are reminders that a young person's own account can reveal concerns that conventional awareness programmes may overlook.
The digital age: Prevention must understand the world children inhabit
Digital environments have changed how young people communicate, build relationships, access information and encounter risk.
Social media influencers, online communities, digital marketing, peer networks and storytelling can shape attitudes towards substances and perceptions of risk.
Yet digital platforms can also provide opportunities for health literacy, peer support, positive role models and access to credible information.
The challenge is not simply to keep children away from digital spaces. It is to make these environments safer and equip young people with the knowledge, confidence and support to navigate them.
Prevention programmes therefore need to move beyond one-way information dissemination.
Young people should be encouraged to participate in developing messages, identifying emerging concerns and evaluating whether prevention approaches reflect their realities.
Storytelling can be powerful, but stories involving children with lived experience must be handled with particular care. Confidentiality, informed consent, safeguarding and freedom from stigma must remain non-negotiable.
The missing dimension: Children with lived experience
The international movement for meaningful participation has established an important principle: people affected by an issue must have a voice in shaping the responses.
The HIV movement advanced the Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV (GIPA) principle. People with disabilities strengthened the demand for participation through Nothing About Us Without Us. People living with non-communicable diseases have advanced lived-experience engagement through the NCD Alliance's Our Views, Our Voices initiative.
The same thinking needs greater recognition in substance-use prevention and recovery.
Children and young people affected by substance use are frequently represented through statistics, case records, institutional assessments and professional opinions. Their own perspectives are less frequently incorporated into policy discussions.
This is particularly concerning because their experiences may differ considerably.
Some may have experimented with substances. Others may be experiencing dependence, family-related substance-use harm, homelessness, exploitation or co-existing mental health difficulties.
Their needs cannot be addressed through a single model.
Meaningful participation does not mean expecting children to disclose personal histories publicly. It means creating age-appropriate, voluntary and protected opportunities for their views to inform decisions concerning their lives.
The principle of Nothing About Us Without Us must be adapted responsibly to children's rights, evolving capacities and best interests.
From Recovery to Recognition: India's experience with peer-led recovery
Nada India Foundation's experience over more than two decades offers another important perspective.
Through the Association of Recovering Peoples Action Network (ARPAN), established in 2000–2001 following UNDCP-supported training of recovering persons and their families, Nada India worked towards recognising recovering people as contributors to prevention, treatment and recovery.
They were encouraged to become peer counsellors, mentors, trainers, community leaders and advocates.
This experience informs the concept paper From Recovery to Recognition: Advancing the Rights of People Living with Addiction as People with Lived Experience.
The central argument is that recovery should not end with abstinence or rehabilitation. It should also restore dignity, citizenship, leadership and opportunities for social contribution.
People with lived experience possess knowledge that professional training alone cannot provide. Their understanding of stigma, craving, relapse, family relationships, treatment barriers and reintegration can strengthen the design and delivery of services.
This recognition must also extend to younger populations, with appropriate safeguards and age-sensitive approaches.
Connecting child rights, social work and public health
The recent collaboration between the National Association of Professional Social Workers in India (NAPSWI) and Nada India Foundation provides a wider professional context for this discussion.
The Guwahati Declaration on Social Work, Prevention and Wellbeing, adopted during the 14th Indian Social Work Conference in Guwahati, Assam, from 2–4 November 2026, reinforces the importance of prevention, youth leadership, community empowerment and wellbeing.
The declaration's broader perspective is significant for substance-use prevention.
It recognises that social work must engage with the social conditions influencing health and wellbeing rather than respond only after problems become visible.
Childhood experiences, family environments, education, poverty, social exclusion, mental health and access to supportive services all influence vulnerability and resilience.
The NAPSWI–Nada India collaboration offers an opportunity to connect professional social work practice with community-based prevention, peer support and lived-experience leadership.
For children affected by substance use, this means integrating child protection, psychosocial care, family engagement, early intervention, treatment and recovery within a more responsive social support system.
Preparing people and institutions to listen
Meaningful participation requires more than an invitation to a conference or consultation.
Civil society organisations, social workers, peer educators, mentors and young professionals need the capacity to support children responsibly.
This includes:
Understanding child rights and safeguarding principles.
Recognising the psychosocial dimensions of substance use.
Developing skills in child-sensitive and trauma-informed communication.
Ensuring confidentiality, informed consent and protection from stigma.
Supporting peer educators and people with lived experience.
Establishing appropriate referral pathways for health and psychosocial support.
Creating safe opportunities for children and young people to express their views.
Vidya Lead Academy, drawing on the experience of Nada India Foundation, sees capacity building as an important contribution to this evolving field.
Our interest is in strengthening the knowledge and competencies of civil society organisations, social work professionals and peer educators so that children and young people can participate meaningfully in prevention and public health conversations.
The aim should not be to turn children into advocates at the cost of their childhood. It should be to ensure that their experiences, concerns and recommendations are respected and considered by institutions.
A wider international conversation
The Children Matter International Forum provides an important opportunity to connect digital-age prevention with the realities of children already affected by substance use.
For the World Federation Against Drugs and other international networks working towards drug prevention and a drug-free society, the discussion offers an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between prevention, child rights, lived experience and recovery.
A drug-free childhood should not be understood only as the absence of substance use. It should also mean freedom from violence, neglect, exploitation, stigma and unsafe environments, together with access to education, emotional support, healthcare and opportunities to participate in decisions affecting one's life.
We need prevention that listens, institutions that respond and communities that support recovery without discrimination.
The young person who said, "I take it because I cannot sleep," deserves more than a warning about drugs. He deserves to be heard, understood and offered appropriate support.
That is the difference between simply communicating prevention messages and building a genuinely responsive public health system.
Prevention is Social. Recovery is Possible. Participation is a Right.
A drug-free childhood must be built with children, not merely designed for them.
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