DRUGS can kill you. Or, they can ruin your life to such an extent that you want to die anyway.

Today's Page 10 interview with a recovering drug addict should be enough to convince anyone of that.

The only sure way to prevent this happening is, of course, to not take drugs in the first place. How can society help stop people ruining their lives in this way?

Today sees the start of our support for TACKLE - Take Action to Curb the Killer - a campaign launched by St Paul's Hostel, in Tallow Hill, Worcester - which is distributing 25,000 drugs awareness cards to schools and parents in Worcester.

The cards show in detail the symptoms displayed by people that have taken a variety of drugs, from cannabis to crack cocaine.

On the reverse of the card is written: "We certainly hope that you will never need to use this card. However, forewarned is forearmed ... a little guidance upon what to look for could be the first step to helping a loved one in trouble."

Educating people against the dangers of drugs is not just about telling youngsters not to take them.

Of course, that would be the ideal situation - but people have been tempted by drugs since the dawn of time and, despite the direst warnings, some will always want to try.

What TACKLE can do, is educate parents against the danger signs.

If just one of these little yellow cards allows a parent to identify that their child has a problem - and help them to tackle it before it is too late - then it will have served its purpose.