YOUTH COUNCIL CONDEMNS `SCARE TACTICS' ON DRUGS

The use of "scare tactics" in public information campaigns on drugs is
ineffective and possibly counter-productive, the National Youth Council of
Ireland has said.

In a submission to the National Drugs Strategy review committee, the youth
organisation said such tactics did not "respect their target audience and
have been shown to be at such variance to young people's own knowledge and
experience as to render them useless".

The group made a number of other recommendations for consideration in the
drafting of the next Government drugs strategy.

It stressed, in particular, the need for a huge increase in resources, and
for an expansion of the current strategy which was confined to 13 areas,
mainly in Dublin and Cork, where local drugs task forces had been set up.
"The drugs problem is a rural as well as an urban one," said the NYCI. Among
the group's other recommendations were:

* the establishment of a national co-ordinating and support unit which would
assist organisations working to tackle drug-related problems in their
communities;

* adequate resourcing for youth organisations so that alternatives could be
provided to the drugs culture;

* expanded training for youth workers in dealing with drugs misuse;

* the extension of the social, personal and health education programme to
all post-primary schools;

* a major investment in treatment and rehabilitation services for young drug
users.

The submission is one of more than 100 made by interested parties to the
Government since the strategy review was launched earlier this year. The new
Government strategy is due to be published before the end of the year.