§ Mr. SummersonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what measures he is taking to assess the effectiveness of the Government's publicity campaign against drug misuse.
§ Mrs. CurrieEach stage Of the anti-drugs campaign in the mass media has been carefully developed to ensure credibility and effectiveness, through interviews with young people, and testing of ideas and creative materials on representatives of the target audience. The campaign has also been evaluated through a series of surveys of young people and parents.
A report of the most recent survey findings, a copy of which is available in the Library, shows that the 1986–87 stage of the campaign was very widely noticed across all media, with radio commercials having been particularly successful at reaching large numbers of young people. Awareness of the health risks of using heroin was broadly sustained, while there was an increase in awareness of adverse social consequences, particularly in the belief that heroin makes the user lose interest in the opposite sex. Overall, claimed resistance to trying heroin or cocaine remains high, with 93 per cent. of those interviewed in each case claiming that they would definitely not try the drug if offered it by a friend.
The 1987–88 stage of the campaign will be evaluated at the start of 1988, and results should be available in the spring.