Last updated by charlotte.lang@essex.gov.uk on Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Throughout December, a Violence and Vulnerability partnership campaign will be running #MerryMuletide on social media channels. This campaign aims to raise awareness of the issue among our county’s residents and helps them understand the impact recreational drugs can have on the most vulnerable in society and that it's not just “a bit of festive fun”.
Vulnerable young people in Essex are exploited and groomed into transporting drugs across the county in a process known as County Lines. Young people are lured into carrying drugs by the promise of friendship, gifts such as trainers and jewellery, money and even love. They then become trapped in a world of exploitation and violence, with their exploiters controlling them and forcing them to take part in both dangerous and illegal activity. Party-goers who choose to take these drugs are fuelling the drugs market and creating more demand for County Lines.