As you may know, we are currently living through an event that people have come to call the “Opioid Crisis”. For most of our lives we were told that dangerous, addictive drugs would be sold to us by criminals. But the reality was that they would be sold to us by doctors and dentists.
Now, there are people all over the country—literally millions of them—suffering from drug abuse and addiction. And the worst part about it is not just that they are addicted. It is the stigma against addiction. Drugs were treated as related to bad judgment and life choices for so long.
As a result, most people have no idea what to do if they or a loved one gets addicted to drugs. They don’t know how to respond to an overdose, or how to take drugs safely. And as recreational drugs get decriminalized, this knowledge is becoming more important.
So, let’s go over some of the ways the governments of the world are raising awareness.
Ads in Schools
These ads are banners and posters in schools that advertise help lines for people struggling with addiction. They are usually sparse on information by themselves but focus on being attention grabbing and drawing people into calling the help line numbers.
They are also usually placed in high schools and community colleges, as these are the schools that people addicted to drugs are most likely to attend. They are also easy for the government to access.
Class Presentations
Most American students are familiar with these. If you grew up with a D.A.R.E assembly or hearing the words “Just say no”, then you have seen one of these class presentations.
These have evolved over the years, however, as the government has taken less of an ideological stance towards addiction. It used to be that the government regarded drugs and drug users as enemies. But as these things have become more common, it is regarded as sickness.
Very Special Episodes
This has become somewhat dated in the United States, but it has seen success overseas. Everything from Korean Dramas to anime have had special episodes or shorts dedicated to informing people about the dangers of drugs and what to do in cases of addictions.
They do not always talk about how to deal with overdoses, but more serious shows do.
Online Ads
This is an interesting one, as ads are mostly distributed by Google. Google sells ad space, and then curtails a person’s ads to their browsing habits and information it collects about them.
As a result of this, it is relatively uncommon for a person to see a banner ad talking about drug addiction. It is comparatively more common for someone to stumble upon a video ad talking about what to do in the case of drug addiction. But the more a person looks into addiction, the more they will see it.
TV Commercials
It is common for these to blend into the background noise of all the other TV commercials. But they are actually similar to the posters put up on college campuses in that they are designed to be eye catching and get the viewer to contact the help line.
This is as opposed to being terribly informative by themselves, as you cannot really convey all the information one needs to make a healthy recovery in a 45-second TV ad.
Comic Ads
These are worth noting due to how they approach their target audiences. Comic books still have lots of ads in them, but they are primarily consumed by young men between the ages of 12 and 25. This means they focus more on informing people about the dangers of drugs.
This allows them to pre-empt drug addiction and get people informed before they form habits.
Magazine Ads
Contrast comic ads with magazine ads. Magazines have mostly idle consumer bases. This means that people read magazines when they have nothing better to do, like when they are in a waiting room or on a plane (compared to comics, which have a more engaged user base).
The consumers of magazines skew older, meaning the ads are more focused on getting people informed about where help is than where danger is.
Information Sites
Of all the things on this list, these are both the most helpful and the least forward in their presentation. By that we mean that information sites on what to do in case of addiction and how to do it are incredibly deep and informative, but you are only going to find them by looking.
Still, it cannot be denied that they have some information that is literally lifesaving. They are also good at connecting people to information if they do not have it there.
Fund Raisers
Fund raisers can mean lots of different things. Most of the time it means sponsoring an event, like a 5K or half-marathon. Something where people pay to enter and give to the fund raiser in the process. But it can also mean more direct fund raising, like political campaigns.
People trust the first much more than the second because the second form of fund raising is given to corruption (or at least perceived as such).
Engagement with Artists
We are using the term “artists” as loosely as possible here, as many people would say they are “content creators” instead. This is because the government often makes use of singers and visual artists as well as Tik Tok stars, YouTubers, and so on.
This allows them to capture modern waves of interest and still inform people.
Conclusion
There are many people who know the damage that untreated addiction can cause who are working within the government to spread the word of how to treat it.
But perhaps more importantly, they are working to undo the damage of the past. There was a time when addiction was scorned as the domain of fools. But now it is treated a disease, and people have a better idea of how to seek help. If you need such help, try this website.
Follow our WhatsApp channel