The State’s anti-drug information service is set for a shake-up with plans to create a new helpline for people living with addiction.
The HSE has been asked by Minister for Health Simon Harris and Minister of State with responsibility for drugs Catherine Byrne to examine establishing a helpline similar to the Frank service in the UK.
While the HSE has long run the National Drug and Alcohol Helpline, the two Ministers want a new service similar to the British anti-drug propaganda service. Frank, which was designed by an advertising agency to replace Britain’s existing drugs helpline, was set up by the UK department of health and the Home Office in 2003.
In place of blunt anti-drugs messages, it positioned itself as an “older brother” figure that young people could turn to for advice about illicit substances. It also distanced itself from officialdom, by giving no indication it is an agent of government.
This led to criticism from some Conservative politicians that it focused more on harm reduction and risk minimisation rather than prevention and intervention.
Source: Paul Cullen, Irish Times, 27th December 2019
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