The Challenge

In April 2000, the (then) Regional Council of Hamilton-Wentworth received a report concerning the growing problem of designer drug use at rave dance parties in the community. The report recommended that the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) be authorized to work with local agencies and stakeholders to promote and distribute educational materials about the risks of designer drug use.

At the same time, a group comprised of a variety of community agencies and municipal departments was focusing on the issue of all-night dance events in the community. As this group included representation from the Hamilton Public Health Services Department, the membership chose to take on the task of planning and developing the educational materials recommended in the report. This group became known as the Designer Drug Harm Reduction Action Group (DDHRAG)

Action Taken

During the year 2000, the DDHRAG met on a regular basis to determine the topics, philosophical orientation and the format of the educational materials. Six topics were selected: ecstasy, crystal, GHP, ketamine, rape drugs and designer drugs in general. It was decided early on that a harm reduction perspective would be the most appropriate orientation for the educational materials, and that pocket-sized pamphlets would be the most appropriate format (Murphy, 2001).

Completed drafts of each of the six pamphlets were available for focus testing by the end of 2000. A protocol for focus testing, including a standardized questionnaire and a consent form, was developed. To ensure that the pamphlets were developed in accordance with a harm reduction approach, a series of questions gauging impressions about the possible effects of the pamphlets were included. Specifically, respondents were asked if they thought the information would encourage them, or others, to use drugs. Results indicated that none of the respondents felt the information in the pamphlets would increase the likelihood of drug use.