Drug campaigns should have three overarching strategies: integrate into harm reduction strategy, be free from wholly quantitative measures and disrupt problems instead of treating symptoms of problem.
3.1
The committee received a significant amount of evidence regarding best practice approaches to public communications campaigns that tackle difficult issues of behaviour change, such as reducing illicit drug use. These include recognising the differing needs of stakeholder groups and taking into account their lived experience, taking a long-term and multi-component approach, and ensuring that campaigns are grounded in research and outcomes are appropriately evaluated.
3.2
This chapter outlines those best practice approaches, provides some examples of international approaches, and presents the committees recommendations for future campaigns to reduce illicit drug demand.
Needs of different audiences
3.3
The committee heard that best practice approaches for communications campaigns include understanding the needs of the different audiences, and are tailored to best target those audiences.
3.4
The Australian Association of Social Marketing informed the committee that this entails going beyond merely changing the message to the target audience, but also using a 'strategic mix of intervention tools and that involve working with citizens and communities in partnership'.
3.5
Dalgarno Institute submitted that vulnerable groups must be consulted in framing messaging, with a focus on mental health and intergenerational cycles of dependency.
3.6
UM advised that targeting groups with specific messages based on their needs or concerns in relation to an issue 'can drive relatability and increase the resonance of messaging', but further advised that 'no group is homogeneous and everyone’s … values related to drugs will be different'.
3.7
UM further advised the committee that the most important group to target is youth, as 80 per cent of illicit drug use first happens between the age of 15 and 21:
Put another way, the majority of 15 to 21-year-olds will at some point be in a position where they have to make a choice around using illicit drugs. We believe, therefore, they're a clear and obvious target for any campaign that's focusing on illicit drug use, although not necessarily the only target.
Youth
3.8
The committee received a range of evidence that highlighted the need to appropriately target a youth audience in efforts to reduce illicit drug demand, and that messages should be appropriate to their needs, maturity levels and ways of consuming media.
3.9
The Drug Education network submitted that as adolescence is a time of developing more independence, if drug use is a perceived way of achieving this it will be hard to discourage youth. Furthermore, most young people rarely consider the long-term effects of drug use and do not see any resemblance between images of addicts and their friends or family members who may use illicit drugs.
3.10
The Australian Association of Social Marketing recommended a youth-specific program should take a multi-component approach, as discussed later in this chapter, and submitted that a review of programs to prevent substance use in children found best practice approaches address multiple domains of risk and protective factors for risk behaviour. It further recommended that substance use prevention programs aimed at youth were most effective when utilising a psychosocial strategy, consisting of two types:
1. the social influences approach, and 2. personal and social competence enhancement. Social influences approaches focus on increasing the awareness of the social influences promoting drug use, altering perceived social norms regarding the prevalence and acceptability of drug use, and building up drug resistance skills. Personal and social competence enhancement programs focus on the development of 'life skills' and feature aspects of the social influence approach but also incorporate general self‑management and social competence training.
3.11
The committee heard that Generation Z (born in the decade from 1995–2005) would be a key target cohort for such a campaign, and are 'digital natives with more fluid identities and a broader range of skills than previous generations' which would require a different approach in order to achieve behaviour change. UM recommended peer-researchers that move from a passive to a more probing approach to ensure that target cohorts true thoughts and feelings are addressed, and that there is benefit in an approach that speaks to youth specifically on a peer-to-peer level.
3.12
However, the committee was told that campaigns can be seen as not relevant, as communications messages rarely explore topics close to the heart of young people.
3.13
Dalgarno Institute submitted that it is estimated that in alcohol and drug education it takes roughly 15 hours to change knowledge, 30 hours to change attitudes and 50 hours to change behaviours. However, for Australian school children, only 44 per cent of student aged 12 to 17 received more than one lesson on illicit drugs in the past year.
3.14
The committee heard about the PARTY program, a Canadian one-day injury awareness and prevention program for youth age 15 and older, which has input from nurses, trauma specialists, allied health professionals and survivors, as each of these groups have direct experience or professional knowledge about the impacts of illicit drugs that can affect change in attitudes and decisions in students. A study conducted in Ontario, Canada between 1993 and 2002 showed that participants in the PARTY program had a lower rate of traumatic injury as well as less severity, after controlling for age, gender and residential area. The committee was advised that it is important communications campaigns utilize the experiences and input of healthcare professionals and survivors in order to give young people a better idea around the potential consequences of their decisions.
3.15
The Australian Medical Association South Australia similarly submitted that medical professionals are an important cohort to assist in both developing and delivering messages targeting illicit drug use.
3.16
The committee also heard that anti-drug education aimed at children younger than the age at which they typically become illicit drug users, can be effective when it continues through into early adulthood.
3.17
Dalgarno Institute submitted that in considering a youth target audience, the needs of the children of drug users should also be taken into account, citing the Australian Psychological Society position that parental drug use was one of the most serious issues confronting the child welfare system in the last 20 years due to child abandonment, neglect, physical and sexual abuse, and death.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
3.18
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people demonstrate disproportionate illicit drug usage at a rate of 1.8 times higher than the non-Indigenous Australian population, making them a key audience for education and preventative measures. The committee heard differing advice on how to best target those communities.
3.19
The Department of Health submitted that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth will be exposed to the mainstream campaign materials and specific targeting may not be necessary or desirable, and further advised that testing is crucial to ensure that any targeted messages do not elicit cultural stigma.
3.20
The Department of Health advised the committee that past National Drug Campaigns which have targeted Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth used a multi-tiered approach of mainstream advertising, partnerships with national Indigenous media, sporting events with specific co-branding, and funding regional and remote organisations to develop local media content.
3.21
The Australian Association of Social Marketing submitted that public communications campaigns need to be mindful that there is a myriad of factors that contribute to harmful drug and substance abuse aimed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities that may not be felt by non-Indigenous communities. The association further advised that this would include 'establishing trust, rapport and strong relationships with communities, developing and adopting an emic cultural understanding, adopting co-creative and collectively reflexive processes, use of culturally appropriate research methods.
3.22
The Australian Association of Social Marketing did advise, however, that while programs developed in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities show potential to reduce substance abuse, more rigorously conducted evaluation trials are needed to strengthen the evidence base.
3.23
UM submitted that although the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audience is English proficient and consumes mainstream media:
… advertising in Indigenous media helps to indicate to this audience that the message is also relevant to Indigenous Australians. When possible, and without being tokenistic, advertisements featuring Indigenous Australians would also be recommended to create a greater feeling of relevance.
Culturally and linguistically diverse communities
3.24
The Department of Health submitted that specific strategies are not typically used to target culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities at a national level due to lower illicit drugs use, media consumption habits and the potential for stigma to be associated if specific communities are targeted. The Department of Health advised that instead, mainstream campaigns are tested with a wide variety of CALD youth and parents regarding different language needs and media use to ensure relevance.
3.25
The Australian Association of Social Marketing submitted that the evidence regarding the efficacy of drug use prevention among CALD communities is quite limited, due to a lack of formal evaluation. Additionally, instances where there is formal evaluation may not be relevant to Australia as those studies in involve different types of CALD communities in the United States of America. The Australian Association of Social Marketing advised that ensuring CALD communities are involved in development and evaluation of future campaigns is critical to achieving positive outcomes for this cohort.
3.26
Advertising agency UM also advised that campaigns should review the needs of potential CALD audiences, because their consumption of media is often different to general audiences, particularly groups with low English proficiency. UM also submitted that for some groups with high English proficiency, testing showed that in-language communications, in this case Hindi, had a 36 per cent increase in performance, demonstrating 'the additional power an asset can have if an individual believes it is specific for them or someone like them'.
Multi-component approach
3.27
The committee heard from many submitters that the most successful interventions to reduce drug demand use a multi-component approach, where broader public awareness raising is followed up with targeted messaging to specific cohorts, combined with behaviour change supports such as social workers and individual addiction treatments.
3.28
The Australian Association of Social Marketing advised the committee:
There is a well-established evidence base regarding what works and what does not with respect campaigns targeting behavioural change generally and for specifically targeting demand for drugs and substance abuse. This evidence shows that multicomponent behaviour change programs are more effective than campaigns that focus simply on information or awareness raising.
3.29
The Advertising Council of Australia agreed and told the committee that a communications campaign alone ‘can't effect significant change for societal issues such as drug abuse. An effective approach needs multilayered [communications], multilayered activities and on-ground plans across all audiences and jurisdictions'.
3.30
The committee also heard, however, that different age groups respond better to different approaches, so age must be taken into account in developing messages around illicit drug use. Additionally, different approaches work better for different drugs, for example universal family interventions has been found to work well to reduce marijuana use, but not other drugs.
3.31
360Edge submitted that future campaigns could learn from successful tobacco reduction campaigns, which were accompanied by other product interventions. 360Edge noted, however, that these campaigns were more successful in delaying or stopping non-users from starting, as opposed to encouraging people to stop using tobacco. 360Edge further noted these campaigns need to be long-lived, as there is a notable decline in effect once the campaign ceases.
3.32
ACT Policing highlighted that from its experience in the Safe Summer campaign, enforcement activities can be included as part of a multifaceted approach:
Having that harder line enforcement and clamping down on antisocial behaviour was a key element to it as well. It wasn't all about educating and accepting that behaviour. There was a harder edge to it to enforce social behaviour. If we didn't do that, the rest of the community that's out at those times have been impacted on by a small minority that are behaving badly.
3.33
Dr Vernon White, a Canadian Senator who has led a drug use reduction campaign in Canada targeting school children, advised the committee that campaigns are not successful 'without an education piece strongly entrenched in the education community'. The Canadian program is outlined in greater detail later in this chapter.
Long-term campaigns
3.34
In addition to campaigns being multi-component to be effective in changing behaviours, the committee was advised by the Department of Health that campaigns should be long term and sustained. Drug Free Australia similarly advised that effective campaigns are conducted over the long-term, to reach diverse audiences, often with one message. The Alcohol and Drug Foundation submitted that effective health campaigns should not only be long-term, they should be 'consistent to ensure impact'.
3.35
Advertising agency UM informed the committee that 'behaviour-change campaigns need to be a sustained effort' to take advantage of 'the multiplier effects on campaign efficacy when communication is maintained for three years or more, compared to a shorter period'.
3.36
Dalgarno Institute advised that a long-term approach should also be taken to measuring results, without expectations for immediate change:
The reality is that because of the widespread entrenched attitudes to illicit drugs, initial strategies and pilot campaigns will not necessarily bring about instant results or may have limited success but this is true of many early endeavours in various industries and organisations.
Campaigns informed by lived experience
3.37
The committee was advised that best practice approaches ensured that people with a lived experience of illicit drug use provided input into campaigns, across a number of aspects.
3.38
The Australian Medical Association South Australia advised that campaigns should be evidence based, up to date and reflect the living experience both of the target audience (illicit drug users) and trusted people the campaign draws upon to assist in influencing behaviour change (health professionals).
3.39
The Alcohol and Drug Foundation submitted that appropriate consideration should be given to the at-risk populations, to maximise effectiveness of campaigns as well as prevent stigmatisation. The Alcohol and Drug Foundation further submitted that 'campaigns targeting drug and substance use should take account that at-risk individuals are less likely to be consumers of traditional and new media; that frontline workers and community groups should be used to disseminate information'. The Alcohol and Drug Foundation went on to state that a program it runs, the Local Drug Action Team program, could be funded to deliver these messages instead of funding a public communications campaign.
3.40
The Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association also advised that involving lived experience would increase the potential success of campaigns, informing the committee that the 'end result of a lot of these efforts would have greater success if they drew on the experience, the understanding and the nuance of the population they're seeking to target'.
3.41
Dalgarno Institute agreed, and submitted that public information campaigns could also include former drug users whose first-hand accounts, lived experience and earned resiliency, could be woven together with collaborating police information to help reinforce their efforts and widen credibility.
3.42
The National Drug Strategy itself advises that policies and approaches to reduce drug harms should be informed by evidence, and should not inadvertently or intentionally ‘marginalise or stigmatise people who are at higher risk of experiencing alcohol, tobacco and other drug related harm'.
Research and evaluation
3.43
The committee heard that in developing campaigns, good research can be crucial to developing effective new campaigns. Furthermore, that evaluation is crucial to understanding the impact of a campaign once delivered, which can then form the basis of research that can be used to direct future campaigns. Thus, research and evaluation can be viewed as different segments of a cycle of learning regarding the effectiveness of public communications campaigns.
3.44
The State and Territory Alcohol and Other Drug Peaks Network advised that campaigns should be preceded by appropriate research and carried out within a well-designed evaluation framework, or risk being both ineffective and harmful.
3.45
The Drug Education Network submitted:
Mass media campaigns are most effective when developed with coherent, credible, evidence-based messages grounded in behavioural science research. When it comes to anti-drug campaigns, truthful representations are the best way to go. There's a fine line between conveying the risks and exaggerating the dangers of drugs.
3.46
The committee was informed that the difficulty faced by developers of public awareness campaigns targeting drug demands, is that past campaigns have generally been very poorly evaluated which means there is a limited body of research available upon which to base future campaigns.
3.47
The Drug Education Network submitted that illicit drug demand reduction campaigns are seldom evaluated, making it hard to provide accurate and clear evidence of their effectiveness, and further claimed that similar campaigns targeting tobacco and alcohol use 'have been evaluated more frequently and have shown evidence for benefit'. The Drug Education Network further submitted that future evaluations should use interrupted time series (ITS) studies, which collect data at points before and after the intervention to measure the impact and ‘is deemed a valuable study design for evaluating the effectiveness of population-level health interventions that have been implemented at a clearly defined point in time'.
3.48
The Department of Health submitted that it 'uses a strong evidence-based approach to campaign development and evaluation … using a variety of research methods including market research commissioned specifically for each campaign'.
3.49
However, the Australian National Audit Office submitted that its review of the Department of Health’s implementation of the National Ice Action Strategy found:
The department does not have an evaluation approach in place for the National Ice Action Strategy, and is not monitoring progress towards the goal and objective. Public reporting by the department does not currently provide sufficient transparency about how implementation is progressing or what progress is being made towards the goal and objective.
3.50
Advertising agency UM informed the committee that behaviours related to illicit drug consumption are difficult to measure definitively and even more difficult to attribute to a single factor, like advertising. However, UM advised:
Pre and post [campaign activity] research related to awareness, perceptions and claimed actions are the closest proxy and used in most examples. If tracking of behaviours can be monitored over a specific time period, this should [be] done and matched as closely as possible to ensure true results align to claimed behaviours as much as possible.
3.51
360Edge similarly submitted that to date there has been little work to evaluate campaigns targeting illicit drug use and the evaluations that have been undertaken show very mixed results. 360Edge stated that some campaigns 'show modest reductions in use among the target population but many show increased interest and use'. 360Edge advised that in developing any upcoming evaluation frameworks '[a]ctual behaviour change and other impacts must be measured, as well as possible unintended consequences (such as increases in use)' and that adequate time and funding is required to properly examine the true effectiveness of campaigns.
3.52
The Advertising Council of Australia highlighted that while measurement is essential, it is often difficult and should not involve overly simplistic indicators. The Advertising Council of Australia told the committee:
Effective societal change needs bespoke measurements for the particular cause we're talking about and it needs to measure across both attitudinal and behavioural change because you need to understand how that is moving along the continuum. Success is rarely binary, such as it works or it doesn't work, or it's on or it's off.
3.53
UM agreed, and advised the committee that evaluation of campaigns seeking to change behaviours should take a long-term approach:
Certainly, there are things we can do from a communication point of view to track awareness or behavioural intent, but, in terms of getting hard numbers around the effect of a campaign, it always takes time with behavioural change.
3.54
UM further advised that research should include studies of the drivers of drug consumption and the barriers to stopping or avoiding this behaviour for different audience groups.
3.55
The Alcohol and Drug Foundation advised that although long-term evaluation can be difficult, long-term investment is required to build evidence of what works to inform future campaigns. The Australian Association of Social Marketing submitted that research is critical in assessing the effectiveness of drug and substance abuse campaigns in changing behaviour, and it should include a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods, with randomised control trials being the gold standard.
Recommended approaches
3.56
The committee received a number of recommended approaches from witnesses and submitters, many of which were repeated by multiple organisations while others were contradictory. Key recommendations are listed below, not in order of importance:
Effective drug education campaigns for young people should:
be delivered by trained facilitators through a series of structured sessions;
normalise the non-use of alcohol and other drugs;
impact perceptions of risk associated with substance use; and,
provide opportunities to practise and learn personal and social skills.
Fear-based campaigns should be abandoned in favour of evidence-based approaches to ensure that campaigns meet their aims and do not place Australians at increased risk of harm.
Harm reduction should be a focus as well as demand reduction.
Campaigns should also consider providing additional funding to cover any increase in people seeking treatment.
Prevention and demand reduction should take preference to treatment and rehabilitation as they are more cost effective.
Drug demand approaches should include investment in stigma reduction, awareness raising, capacity building, holistic approach to drug use prevention through addressing protective factors and place-based community development.
Campaigns should use visual images such as real brain scans showing the gradual harms from illicit drugs to developing brains, as this offers a more authoritative and scientific approach to messaging.
Campaigns should be based on scoping research with priority stakeholders to gain insight about their needs, to understand the local context, and to inform appropriate intervention approaches that will result in positive social outcomes. Pre-testing of interventions should be conducted to help test and refine campaign activities, messages and effects.
New campaigns should be implemented in a framework of rigorous evaluation studies.
Campaigns should start with consultations with stakeholders, as designers of programs must understand the motivators and point of view of the people they are targeting.
Campaigns should be long-term to ensure maximum effectiveness.
Governments should engage creative agencies earlier in the campaign development process.
3.57
The Australian Association of Social Marketing submitted that campaigns that seek to reduce drug demand should follow a strategic social marketing approach, including that campaigns should:
Draw on core values of reciprocity, mutuality, diversity and inclusivity;
Be informed by ways of thinking strategically, trans-disciplinary and ethically;
Draw on scoping research to unpack key issues, trends, challenges and opportunities that affect drug and substance abuse;
Make use of careful existing scoping, planning, monitoring and evaluation frameworks;
Adopt a citizen centred approach;
Apply appropriate theory and science of behaviour and social change;
Develop segmented messaging according to different target groups according to their demographic, geographic, psychographic and behaviour characteristics; and,
Use a broad, creative and multi-faceted mix of intervention tools and tactics that move beyond communications only.
3.58
Additional to the above recommendations, the Australian National Audit Office, made recommendations that the Department of Health:
develop an evaluation framework for the National Ice Action Strategy, including the identification of suitable baseline performance information from which progress can be measured;
monitor progress towards the goal and objective of the National Ice Action Strategy and provide this information to government; and,
improve public reporting on how the implementation of the National Ice Action Strategy is progressing and what is being achieved.
International examples of best practice
3.59
The committee received evidence on public communications campaigns overseas which modelled best practice approaches and achieved successful outcomes. These are outlined below.
3.60
The Drug Education Network provided two examples of effective campaigns. The first, a United States of America (USA) anti-smoking campaign countered the appeal of smoking by encouraging young people to 'rebel against the duplicity of the Tobacco Industry', and was found to have lead to a 22 per cent decrease in smoking among young people.
3.61
The second example, the United Kingdom's Know your limits campaign, targeted awareness of sensible drinking and evaluation found one third of the campaign audience reported the campaign made them consider the negative consequences of getting drunk.
3.62
The Australian Association of Social Marketing cited a Norwegian program which uses a portal with accurate and science-based information about drugs, without moralising, in order to minimise the harms of illicit drug use. The portal provides information on the effects and risks of drug use, as well providing safety guidelines. The Australian Association of Social Marketing noted that while information campaigns are useful for raising awareness and increasing knowledge regarding drug and substance abuse, evidence shows that information alone does not change behaviour.
3.63
360Edge submitted that the USA's Above the Influence and Be Under Your Own Influence campaigns to reduce marijuana use have been effective. They promote the non-use of drugs as a means for young people to support goals of autonomy and achievement, with key messages of rising above peer and social pressures to use drugs.
3.64
UM highlighted the USA's Montana Meth Project: Not Even Once, which focused on preventing youth methamphetamine (meth) usage by depicting the deterioration of a user over time, who begins by appearing an average teenager who makes the decision to use meth 'just once' and then descends into a dark and shocking place. Campaign research demonstrated a significant understanding that trying meth even once was dangerous both through qualitative and quantitative means, and that the use of shock tactics in this instance appeared to be successful at motivating action and influencing opinion.
3.65
Saatchi & Saatchi, however, submitted that evaluations of this campaign challenged the efficacy of the campaign, and that individuals with a lived experience of meth dependency, believed the campaign stigmatised them. Saatchi & Saatchi pointed to the South Dakota Meth. We’re on it campaign, which uses shock tactics in a way that does not stigmatise or shame drug users. The campaign has received mixed reviews, but has garnered attention and created online conversations.
3.66
Dr Vernon White and Dr John Coyne provided details on a Canadian project, which they submitted ' offers a best practice model for public communication campaigns targeting drug and substance abuse'. See text box below.
Box 4.1 Support Treatment Education Prevention (STEP) Project
Project STEP was launched in 2007 by police, schools, public health and the United Way as well as addictions and mental health service providers to address the need for the support, treatment, education and prevention of substance use issues among youth in the community.
The two areas of focus were development of two residential treatment facilities for youth (previously none) and school-based prevention and intervention.
The STEP school-based initiative is a multi-sector community program in Ottowa, Canada. In public school settings STEP’s activities run as a close partnership between the schools and the two core service delivery partners. Students at all 57 high schools in Ottawa, including alternate schools, have access to school-based prevention, education and counselling. Many intermediate and elementary schools (grades 6–8) also receive education and prevention services.
In addition to services for students and families, the addiction counsellors also provide teacher training and parent events.
In the non-mainstream settings, counselling services are provided for youth in the community through the following partners:
Youville Centre provides young single mothers and expectant mothers with a full range of counselling and life skills support.
Operation Come Home provides employment and support programs, addictions and mental health counselling for at-risk youth.
Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health’s Working Hope program provides culturally aligned mental health and addictions-focused programming for First Nations, Metis, and Inuit children, youth and families.
In 2016 the Opioid crisis hit the City of Ottawa and as STEP was already fully operating it allowed the team of professionals and organisations to put in action a plan to combat the death that was being seen across the country. Additionally:
79 per cent of youth who reported drug use, reduced their frequency of use.
81 per cent of youth felt the program helped them with healthy relationships.
84 per cent of youth reported they had fewer suicidal thoughts.
2 of every 4 students were able to reduce or stop using one or more drugs during the evaluation period.
Source: Dr Vernon White, Senator and Dr John Coyne, Submission 3, p. 2.
Committee view
3.67
The committee notes that while there is strong consistent advice on best practice for how to prepare, deliver and evaluate public messages, expert advice differs on exactly what the message itself should be.
3.68
These conflicting approaches to public messaging stem from the different cohorts being targeted, the countries in which they are undertaken and different ideas of how to best reduce illicit drug use, and therefore drug demand.
3.69
One approach is to reduce demand by addressing people's addictions because, as pointed out to the committee, drug demand is driven by people who are using drugs not by people who are not using drugs. The committee's concern with this approach is that it is reactive, not proactive.
3.70
A prevention approach to illicit drug use would require governments to provide information that would assist people to avoid addiction to illicit drugs, rather than attempt to 'cure' them via addiction treatment after the fact. The issue of obesity is a good example. There are significant health implications from obesity that governments, via health messaging, attempt to address as preventative measures while trying to ensure that people do not feel 'fat-shamed' or of lesser value due to weight-gain.
3.71
Another approach argued during this inquiry, is that illicit drug use is only a problem because of the harm that it causes and therefore governments should address drug-related harms only, rather than reducing illicit drug use itself. This view does not take into account the significant harms caused by the illicit drug trade, that occur before any drug is even consumed. There needs to be greater recognition of these harms and of the involvement of organised crime groups in the manufacture and distribution of illicit drugs.
3.72
The committee believes that reactive and proactive measures do not have to be in conflict, and each approach has both benefits and sensitivities. Governments have a duty of care to ensure that appropriate information on the risks of illicit drug use is made available to the broader public as a preventative measure, weighing up the potential negative impacts to the small community of regular illicit drug users.
3.73
The committee is also conscious of expert communications advice that message channels are far more sophisticated now than in past decades, allowing for more nuanced messaging that is tailored to different audiences.
3.74
The committee further notes expert advice to prioritise key cohorts, including:
youth, focussed at the age at which initial decisions about drug taking occur;
parents, with strategies to assist them to help their children to avoid illicit drugs; and
parents, on the dangers of how their drug abuse can lead to child neglect and exploitation.
3.75
The committee recommends future Australian Government communications campaigns include the following characteristics:
contain targeted messages on the dangers of illicit drug use to key cohorts;
reflect the lived experiences of illicit drug users and also the experiences of trusted people, such as teachers and healthcare workers, to establish behavioural change;
provide information on addiction treatment off-ramps;
include a national schools element that will take a multi-component approach to developing protective factors and involve the national education community in its design and implementation;
be based on appropriately detailed and considered research and, prior to commencement, have in place both quantitative and qualitative measures for efficacy; and,
take a long-term approach of at least 3–5 years and include a sustained approach to key cohorts over that entire period.