GOING HYPER TO KICK THE HABIT

The Eastern Health Board has switched direction in trying to combat
drug abuse, and is backing Hyper, a bi-monthly magazine written by
recovering addicts and aimed at young people.

Getting the anti-drug message across has brought problems in the past
for the EHB.

The board came in for criticism from both the general public and drug
addicts in 1998 when it ran a series of shock outdoor advertisements
including Trip to Hell (Now Just IEP8) which showed an addict's leg
with weeping sores.

The advertisements created by Bell Advertising took a bronze at the
Institute of Creative Advertising and Design Awards last year, but
addicts writing in Hyper said they were misleading.

One said that although the poster claimed heroin rotted your teeth,
using the strapline Smile. You're On Heroin, in reality it is
methadone, a heroin substitute, which damages addicts' teeth.

The EHB's involvement with Hyper has brought the health authority
praise from anti-drugs groups. The first issue is being funded through
the EHB by Youthstart, an EU initiative for 18- to
20-year-olds.

It is edited by journalist Stephen Mulkearn, and a team of 10 young
people are learning communication skills, how to run a magazine,
interview techniques, IT skills and taking their own pictures.

The project manager, Gerry McAleenan hopes that after a year working
on Hyper the trainees will have learned vocational and personal
developmental skills along with gaining a working environment.

"We are trying to give them the skills to market themselves. We think
that instead of spending IEP76,000, which is how much it costs to keep
one young person in jail, it is better to spend that money on a
project like this one.," says McAleenan. "To keep two juveniles in
custody for a year is the equivalent of doing a project like Hyper."

Hyper, which stands for health, youth, promotion of education and
rehabilitation, does not carry advertising, but it does have strong
messages for young people.

McAleenan has high praise for the EHB, and says it is a way of talking
to young people in their own language, as opposed to other mediums
which talk at them.

In its first issue Hyper manages to combine hard reality, in pieces
written by recovering addicts who talk about their first experiences
with drugs, to problems with literacy and even aromatherapy tips for
keeping healthy.

The lead singer of Aslan, Christy Dignam, once announced by Gerry Ryan
as being dead, shows he is still alive and well and still managing to
stay clean of heroin.

The first issue's 10,000 copies are already being distributed to EHB
facilities, such as customer services in Dr Stevens Hospital, youth
information centres and projects across Dublin. Groups in other parts
of the country have expressed an interest in Hyper.

McAleenan plans to send up to 1,000 copies to Belfast, where drugs are
not as big as problem as in parts of Dublin, but are a growing worry
for community groups.