Ice: Not Even Once - A Critical Reflection on a Drug Health Promotion Campaign

This paper critically reflects upon a drug health promotion campaign “Ice: not even once”, that was arranged against the widespread use of the drug Ice. It discusses the effectiveness of the campaign and the prevalence of substance use among the youth. The paper also provides an overview of the literature on treating drug addiction and dual diagnosis. The effectiveness of the campaign is evaluated and the need for a collaborative approach with both high schools and parents is emphasized.

Running head: Ice: Not Even Once
Ice: Not Even Once
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Introduction
When a patient is diagnosed with both a mental health issue and the substance abuse
disorder can be termed as a dual diagnosis. There are many mental health disorders that tend to
occur along with substance abuse such as the anxiety disorder, depressions, schizophrenia and
mood disorders (Medhus et al., 2013).
Metamphetamine or ICE is a drug that stimulates the central nervous system and lead to
several social, occupational and legal health consequences. Ice addiction in children is a major
problem and can exacerbate the mental health issues such as depression and anxiety (Ahmadi et
al., 2015). A co-occurring mental health disorder can even complicate the ability of the user to
get help for the drug addiction. In relation this, this paper would critically reflect upon a drug
health promotion campaign “Ice: not even once”, that was arranged against the widespread use
of the drug Ice.
Description
The traditional methods of treating patients with dual diagnosis is a parallel treatment
program. Where the patients were treated separately for the drug addiction and the mental health
problem from two different physicians. The campaign is to decrease the rampant use of the ICE
users among the adolescent group (AAIC,2013). The mass media campaign included television
advertisement, radio advertisements, billboard advertisements and social media saturation. The
campaign depicted the most dangerous outcome for the adolescents using ICE, involving both

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the physical and the mental deterioration, crime, violence, prostitution and suicide. The Meth
campaign also provided knowledge to say “NO, NOT EVEN ONCE” (AAIC, 2013).
Overview of the literature
Normally there are two types of treatment for treating the drug addiction.
Pharmacological intervention and therapies. At present there are no medications that has been
approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treating Meth abuse. Most of the
treatment regimen begins with the medical detox where the drug is slowly weaned away from the
body and is done under the supervision of the registered professionals (Courtney & Ray, 2014).
Therapeutical approach includes cognitive behavioral therapy, the matrix model and the
contingency management intervention (Murthy & Chand,2012). Cognitive behavioral therapy
has been found to be effective in helping out the people to cope up with the life stressors that
trigger the use of the Meth. The Matrix model involves a program for 16 weeks of behavioral
treatment that includes behavioral therapy including family education, group counseling, and
support of the 12 step philosophy, drug testing and motivation for the non-drug related activities,
that works wonders for patients with dual diagnosis. People already suffering from depression
and may experience additional psychological effects from the Meth crystals, such as the
paranoia, schizophrenic behavior and severe anxiety. According to the National Center for
Complementary and Alternative Medicine, certain relaxation techniques has been found to be
helpful for the people suffering from dual diagnosis (Glasner-Edwards & Mooney, 2014). A
simple process of relaxation technique change the way how a body responds to the stresses of the
life. Breathing exercises, self-hypnosis and guided imagery can be helpful to manage the fight
and flight response of the body and the brain. Relaxation techniques in dual diagnosis can be

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helpful in lowering the blood pressure, heart rate and reduce the altered breathing (Murthy &
Chand,2012).
Furthermore the health promotion campaigns collaborated with the schools and the
families can be helpful for stopping the use of ICE among the young people. Effective education
regarding the signs and the symptoms in children taking ICE, coping strategies and information
about the important referrals can be given to the parents.
Effectiveness of campaign
The objective of the campaign is to refrain the kids from the addiction of the
Metamphetamine crystals. The main aim of the campaign is to deliver the Anti –Ice program in
all the high schools across the nation (AAIC., 2013). The rationale for this campaign was
appropriate and clear, as in the years between 2007 to 2013, the number of Australians children
ageing between 14- 19 had tripled and in the years between 2010 and 2013 the number of the
Australian male aged between 14 – 19 using Metamphetamine have doubled. After the
wastewater sampling has been carried out it was found that there was a dramatic spiral in the use
of Ice in the general community, with 480 % detection in some of the areas (AAIC., 2013).
Although a national task force had been working to deal with the augmenting impact of
the drug, there are varied opinions about the effectiveness of the campaign. According to ABC
news. (2016), a general public awareness campaign can lead to more individuals using the highly
addictive drugs. In some of the cases the young people might think that when an advertisement is
on a specific drug then that might be quite common to use. There is a huge gap between the
community understanding and a real research. Television Ads as a part of the campaign can be
effective for smoking, alcohol or the road safety campaigns, but cases may be different in case of

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the illicit drugs (ABC news, 2016). One of the evidence questioning the effectiveness of the
campaign is that there was a dramatic increase in the Ice users from 15-32 % from the year 2010
to 2016, as per the household drug survey data (AAIC., 2013). Other researches have shown a
correlation between the early onsets of the Parkinson’s diseases in the drug users. On the other
hand a research by market research consultancy Stancombe has revealed that 94 % of the young
people who have seen the campaign have reported that they have taken some action as a result
(Degenhardt et al., 2016). Hence there had been a lot of discrepancy regarding the success of the
campaign. However the awareness campaigns needs to identify the real victims of ICE. It is
necessary to evaluate the strategies made by the decision makers before investing in the
advertisement of the campaigns to prevent wastage of the funding. Such issues requires the
involvement of high schools and the parents to reduce the ICE use among the parents.
Conclusion
In conclusion it can be said that a dual diagnosis among the ICE users have been rising
alarmingly and hence requires some robust strategies to address the youth. This huge prevalence
of substance use have raised question on the effectiveness of The ICE: not even once campaigns.
This proves that the set of strategies should be such that it is effectively disseminated to the ideal
targets. However a collaborative approach with both the high schools and parents are required.

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References
AAIC., 2013.AUSTRALIAN ANTI ICE CAMPAIGN. Access date: 14.8.2018. Retrieved from:
https://australianantiicecampaign.org.au/
ABC news. 2016. Ice campaign could backfire, say experts. Access date: 14.8.2018. Retrieved
from: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/ice-campaign-could-
backfire,-say-experts/6411104
Ahmadi, J., Sahraian, A., Dastgheib, S. A., Mowla, A., & Ahmadzadeh, L. (2015). Management
of methamphetamine-induced psychosis by 8 sessions of ECT. young, 11, 13.
Courtney, K. E., & Ray, L. A. (2014). Methamphetamine: an update on epidemiology,
pharmacology, clinical phenomenology, and treatment literature. Drug and alcohol
dependence, 143, 11-21.
Degenhardt, L., Larney, S., Chan, G., Dobbins, T., Weier, M., Roxburgh, A., ... & McKetin, R.
(2016). Estimating the number of regular and dependent methamphetamine users in
Australia, 2002-2014. Medical journal of Australia, 204(4), 1-e1.
Glasner-Edwards, S., & Mooney, L. J. (2014). Methamphetamine psychosis: epidemiology and
management. CNS drugs, 28(12), 1115-1126.
Medhus, S., Mordal, J., Holm, B., Mørland, J., & Bramness, J. G. (2013). A comparison of
symptoms and drug use between patients with methamphetamine associated psychoses
and patients diagnosed with schizophrenia in two acute psychiatric wards. Psychiatry
research, 206(1), 17-21.

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Murthy, P., & Chand, P. (2012). Treatment of dual diagnosis disorders. Current Opinion in
Psychiatry, 25(3), 194-200.