2010 press releases
Posted 12 April 2010
Cocaine Awareness Campaign Receives Design Edge from AIT Students
Elements of a new cocaine awareness campaign organised by the Midland Regional Drugs Task Force (MRDTF) will be unveiled at Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) this Thursday 15 April.
Third year graphic design students at the institute participated in a competition to produce posters for the information campaign. The winning posters will be announced at this week’s event at AIT. The competition was organised by the MRDTF and the Health Promotion Unit, the Student Services Department and Design at AIT.
The campaign is aimed 15-34 year-olds, including recreational users, and is designed to convey a series of messages about cocaine use. Some of these messages include the drug’s addictive nature, its links to crime and the impact it can have on users’ physical, mental and emotional well-being.
Antoinette Kinsella, Coordinator of the Midland Regional Drugs Task Force, said that “The main objective of the campaign is to communicate the message and raise awareness that cocaine is a harmful addictive drug. The task force welcomed the opportunity to work on this initiative in consultation with Athlone Institute of Technology and the Health Service Executive, Health Promotion Unit. All students involved have to be congratulated on the high standard of work they put into designing the posters.”
Anne Cooney, Health Promotion Officer, at AIT added that “People need to be well informed as to the dangers of taking cocaine. That communication has to be powerful, easily understood and effective. These posters explode some of the myths that surround drug taking and are a powerful addition in the fight against the scourge of addiction.”
The MRDTF was established under the government’s National Drugs Strategy 2001-2008 to deliver a more coordinated response in tackling the problem of drug misuse in the Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath.
In 2008 Pat Carey TD, then Minister of State at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy, allocated once-off funding to the Midland Regional Drugs Task Force to run a cocaine awareness campaign. The current competition, organised in conjunction with AIT and the HSE’s Health Promotion Service, was one of the initiatives that the task force ran in relation to the funding allocated.
This project is the latest in a series of social awareness initiatives undertaken by graphic design students at AIT. Senior lecturer in design, Eddie Ryan, said that “campaigns such as these harness the students’ creativity and ability with a wider societal good. Communiction in all its forms is a central tenet of our design degrees and we are delighted to be part of information and awareness campaigns aimed at reducing the incidence of social problems such as suicide, binge drinking and drug taking.”
