THE PROBLEM OF AN OVERDOSE
Blackburn and Darwen Council instigated an initiative that was designed to help the most serious of drug users who overdose. During the campaign people who called an ambulance for a person who had overdosed would have no questions asked, nor would arrests be made. This had been identified as the key concern for those who had witnessed an overdose.
Communication for this needed something a little more elaborate than a brochure in the doctors surgery. With this in mind a series of measures were implemented beginning with a new logo, posters and microsite. The key to the campaign was the clean graffiti. Large stencils were produced of the logo and jet washed onto dirty buildings and in locations that drug users were known to frequent. Added to this low tack stickers were employed in telephone boxes and in train stations to help improve awareness.
The campaign was judged to be a success based solely on lives saved from those who called the ambulance in this particular instance.
