Uk: Drug Advice Campaign Is Wasted Opportunity, Say Charities

The government's new UKP 3m drugs education campaign was today condemned by a drugs charity for failing to provide any useful information to young people or their parents.

Danny Kushlick, director of the Transform drugs policy institute, branded the Talk to Frank campaign a "wasted opportunity" because it offered no advice on harm reduction.

Mr Kushlick, a former drugs counsellor, said the information on the campaign's website - talktofrank.com - focused on the penalties of using drugs without explaining how young people could reduce the associated health risks.

He said: "The campaign is crap. The focus is entirely on illegality. It looks like it's been designed by some official at the Home Office.

"The entry on coke says that supplying it can get you jailed for life. No one gets life for supplying coke, even major smugglers - and definitely not people dealing small amounts to their friends. It's not credible."

The campaign targets parents and carers as well as young people, urging them to Talk to Frank for advice on substance abuse and drug addiction in a series of TV commercials, plus radio, posters and print advertisements.

But Mr Kushlick said: "Who is it aimed at? If they wanted to engage young people, they should have addressed the issue of criminality - why some drugs are legal and why some are not. Frank dodges that debate entirely.

"Only parents with no knowledge of drugs whatsoever would find this information useful but it's not going to help them talk to their kids."

He added that the strategy, which focuses on Class A drugs such as crack and heroin, should have explained how users could take the drugs more safely.

"For example, research shows that if you deeply inhale dope and hold the smoke in your lungs that increases the adverse effects. All they needed to say was don't inhale deeply," he said.

Len Mackin, programme manager at the drugs charity and treatment service Cascade, criticised the campaign for giving a misleading picture of how the police dealt with young drug users.

He said: "We tell parents that the police are a lot more sympathetic than is thought and will not come crashing into their homes if they raise concerns about their children. But the TV ad shows the police doing just that."

Shona Beaton, director of operations at drugs charity Release, said: "Talk to Frank conjures up an image of a white older man. But it's definitely more friendly than the national drugs helpline."

But along with some other drugs charities, she welcomed the initiative as a departure from the "just say no" approach.

Roger Howard, chief executive of the drugs policy think tank DrugScope, said: "Frank has been extensively trialed in the community where young people and their parents seem to be receptive to the campaign.

"Frank will hopefully provide better and more accurate information for young people and their parents to encourage them to talk to each other about this topic and we look forward to seeing the evaluation on the effectiveness of this in the future."