A process evaluation of the National drug awareness campaign.

Abstract

In response to the National Drugs Strategy 2001-2008 a national mass media awareness campaign was undertaken from May 2003 to December 2005 with the aim of highlighting the facts about drug misuse and increasing awareness of drugs problems. The campaign slogan was 'Drugs - there are answers' and messages were disseminated via electronic and hard copy communication mechanisms and a community-based initiative. While the mass media may have been used extensively to communicate drug misuse prevention and harm reduction messages the effect that these campaigns have on audiences has long been debated and warrants evaluation to inform future developments.