HL Deb 26 June 1986 vol 477 cc412-4

3.5 p.m.

Lord Rodney

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows: To ask Her Majesty's Government what evaluation has been made of the impact that their anti-heroin advertising campaign has had on teenagers' attitudes to drugs.

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, the anti-heroin campaign is being independently evaluated by two companies, one using a quantitative survey of 700 young people and the other interviewing small groups in depth. The evaluation has indicated that the campaign has increased young people's resistance to heroin.

Lord Rodney

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that Answer. Do the Government agree that the solution is ultimately to eliminate the demand for drugs? Will Her Majesty's Government be continuing with the advertising campaign to ensure that these encouraging results continue?

Baroness Hooper

Yes, my Lords. The campaign is continuing on the basis that over the two-year period that it has been in existence the evaluation provides clear evidence that the percentage of young people who said that they would reject an offer of heroin increased from 83 per cent. to 94 per cent. during the first year of the campaign. There is also an increased awareness of the consequences of heroin misuse. Therefore, the campaign will certainly continue.

Baroness Seear

My Lords, how does the noble Baroness reconcile what she has just told us with a greatly increased anxiety about drugs and a greatly increased anxiety in the prison service about the number of people passing through the courts on drug offences?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, the campaign is, after all, designed to prevent the need for services, including the rehabilitation services, and to avoid the prison consequences of drugs. As I have said, the campaign is only in the first two years of its existence, and the results so far have proved beneficial. But that does not mean to say that the Government will stop there. Other means are being used to help fight the campaign against drugs.

Lord Avebury

My Lords, should not the attack on drugs be twofold, both from the demand end, with the use of a campaign such as the one that is the subject of this question, but equally on the cultivation, manufacture and supply of the drugs, to prevent them from coming into this country in the first place? Do the Government not agree that if as much money had been spent at the other end, in eradicating the crops and in preventing them from being turned into consumable drugs, as has been spent in prevention in the western world, then we should have dried up the supply a long time ago?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, the Government are well aware of this aspect of the problem. They have taken steps, and are continuing to do so, to prevent the source of the drugs from continuing to increase.

Lord Winstanley

My Lords, the noble Baroness stated that the purpose of this advertising campaign was not to persuade heroin addicts to cease using heroin but to dissuade young people from experimenting with heroin, thus avoiding the risk of becoming addicted. Will the noble Baroness agree that it would be difficult at this early stage to evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign from that point of view? Does she also agree that a campaign of a very different kind using resources of a different kind will be required to deal with people who are already addicted?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, to answer the noble Lord's first question, yes, the reason for this campaign was that heroin misuse had escalated rapidly and we wanted to influence young people's attitudes against it.

Lord Molloy

My Lords, does the noble Baroness agree that what is required is a more massive determination among all the great powers to eradicate this appalling curse? Could not our Government, soon to be in the chair of the EC, make this eradication a substantial item for international action?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, I think that goes slightly beyond the bounds of the original Question. Nevertheless, the Government are using every means at their disposal to pursue the campaign both nationally and internationally.