This week, Australian households receive an A4 booklet entitled “Talking with your kids about drugs”. When it arrived I had a distinct feeling of deja vu as I remembered similar booklets arriving in the mail when I was a teenager myself during the 80’s. It was around the time Bob Hawke got up on stage with Dire Straits at the Sydney Entertainment Centre to accept a cheque from the band toward the drugs campaign at the time (The National Campaign Against Drug Abuse).

The current offering doesn’t seem a lot different to the one of twenty years ago – lots of facts and figures on the effects and impacts of each substance combined with positive role model case studies. What I’m interested in – does it have any demonstrable difference? I was encouraged initially by the TV advertisements which pushed the family communication angle. The print offshoot doesn’t seem to be offering a lot new though. What are your thoughts?