ANTIDRUG POSTERS UNDER FIRE FOR SENDING WRONG MESSAGE

Scots Campaign Sparks Call for Hard Facts Rather Than
Scaremongering

THE latest major poster campaign by Government backed Scotland Against
Drugs has been accused of sending children a mixed message about drug
taking.

Dave Liddell, director of the Scottish Drugs Forum said that the
billboard advertisement which will appear at 218 sites across the
country lends credence to the view that habitual drug taking is acceptable.

The concern surrounds the wording of one of the posters which poses
the question: "What do you call kids who have taken drugs?" The answer
given is: "The majority."

The advert is intended to shock parents about the extent of drug use
but there are fears that children could interpret it that drug taking
is the norm.

Mr Liddell said: "It just underlines what they see every day, that
drugs are available."

He added: "I don't think it tackles the real issue which is that drugs
are out there, but am I going to use them or not, rather than how many
people are already using? I know the ads are aimed at parents, but
they will be seen by children."

He said he did not think that the campaign encouraged children to go
out and take drugs. "But it does reinforce the message that for a lot
of people drug use is a fact. There is a mixed message there."

David Shewan of Glasgow Caledonian University, who lectures on the
psychological factors which affect drug use, said: "It's a return to
the 'heroin screws you up' posters of the 1980s which were shown to be
spectacularly ineffective. These new posters are on the same
principle, scaring people without telling them anything positive. The
only people who are reached by posters like that are the ones who
would never take drugs anyway."

He also took issue with how the campaign might interfere with the
relationship between parents and their children. "The most important
source of information a child has is through a parent, and if you get
in the way of that, you are storing up a lot of trouble and sending
what could be rational discussions underground."

Mr Shewan rejected the idea that Scottish parents were complacent
about the drug problem. "I don't think Scottish adults are blas about
either drugs or their children."

Liz Skelton, coordinator of Crew 2000, a drugs information shop in
Edinburgh that works with young people on a daily basis, said: "Any
advertising campaign that is going to have any effect has got to be
credible and accurate and directed at kids using drugs. Rather than
shock horror tactics we want to see hard facts about drugs."

However, Jack Irvine, who coordinated the campaign for Scotland
Against Drugs, said SAD research had shown that Scottish adults are
deeply ignorant about drugs. "It is typical of the criticism we have
received from the mueslieating classes who don't seem to recognise the
scale of the problem. Our research has shown that many adults are
terribly unaware about drugs down to what they look like and they
believe that it will never happen to them or their family.

"We want to shock them out of their complacency and during Drug
Awareness Week next week they will be give the opportunity to find out
the information that they need."

Rita Keyte, team leader of Dundee Drugs Prevention Team, agreed that
anything that awoke parents to the enormity of the issue was a good
thing, but said she felt educating parents could only be done
adequately on a local level. She added: "You've got to physically sit
down with people and give them information, you cannot just scare them."