Characteristics and social representation of ecstasy in Europe - Irefrea

The material used was a triptych, circular in shape ,with a “young design andattractive colours”. Distribution was through social intermediaries and professionals inprimary attention. There was also a direct distribution to points generally associatedwith use. No evaluation has been made of this campaign.4) Ecstasy. Una droga con cuerpo de àngel y alma de demonio was the title of theleaflet published by the Asociación Abstemia (1997), an association which battlesalcoholism in the Balearic Islands. It was issued in the form of a booklet, in a simpleand discreet design and targeting adolescents and their parents. It was divided into threeparts; in the first, it provided information on synthetic drugs, the environment whichthey are linked to and on who took them, emphasising its false innocuous nature; in thesecond, there was an interview with a professional who described the dangers of use;and lastly, there was a test, aimed at parents, on “identifying drugs in adolescents”. Atotal of 20,000 copies were distributed in schools and centres of higher education. Noevaluation was made of the effects of the campaign.5) Again in the Balearic Islands, the Directorate General de Juventud of the BalearicGovernment carried out an informative campaign (No deixis escapar la vida a totapastilla) (Direcció General de Joventut i Familia, 1997). Large posters were placed onhoardings in the city of Palma and in the towns, and there were leaflets in the form ofa triptych whose cover carried the slogan on a pastel coloured background.The objective of this campaign was to inform the young in general on the harminvolved in ecstasy use and to refute the “messages that they would like make usbelieve”, with the proposal for intervention in the demand for this type of substance. Itdid not contain information on preventive measures in the event that there was alreadya use.6) Another preventive campaign against synthetic drug use targeting young peoplewas carried out by the Junta de Andalucía (1997) with the slogan Atención, pastillass.The material in this case included posters and leaflets. The latter was designed as acomic, with lots of illustrations, in attractive colours, to illustrate the messages in thetext.It served a dual purpose: to intervene in the demand for these substances, to provideinformation on the dangers of their use and on the false messages which were beingreceived on their “positive effects”, and on reducing the risks involved in their use withpreventive measures for those who decided to use them. This leaflet also included adviceon driving under the effects of the tablets and reminded readers of the importance of usingcondoms in sexual relations.In Andalusia, this campaign provoked polemics between the defenders and thedetractors of harm minimisation strategies who brought up the dangers inherent ingiving information on preventive measures with the argument that it could encouragethose not yet using drugs of this type to experiment.7) The Ayuntamiento de Madrid (1994) had a campaign entitled Drogas de síntesis.Its specific targets were to make young people aware that synthetic substances are also200