NCJ Number
126998
Journal
Druglink Volume: 5 Issue: 3 Dated: (May/June 1990) Pages: 16-19
Date Published
1990
Length
4 pages
Annotation
British government advertising campaign designed to change drugtaking behavior to reduce the spread of HIV infection have tended to ostracize drug users, further alienating them from society and the help they need.
Abstract
In attempting to deter nonusers from beginning drug use, the ads have aimed at confirming nonusers' existing negative images of drug users. Drug users, on the other hand, disparage the ads as propaganda rather than realistic portrayals of drug use, drug users, and drug users' needs. The moralistic tone of the ads tends to intensify drug users' low self-esteem and confirms their belief that public authorities are more interested in judging them than helping them. The ads do not provide objective health education messages that might persuade drug users to alter their needle-sharing behaviors (behaviors linked to the transmission of HIV infection). The ads have the effect of increasing drug users' sense of alienation from society and from the help and information sources they need to modify high-risk behaviors.