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Trends and Impacts on Youth Attitudes to Illicit Drug Use

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Trends and Impacts on Youth Attitudes to Illicit Drug Use DRUG POLICY MODELLING PROGRAM MONOGRAPH 19 MEDIA REPORTING ON ILLICIT DRUGS IN AUSTRALIA: TRENDS AND IMPACTS ON YOUTH ATTITUDES TO ILLICIT DRUG USE Caitlin Hughes, Bridget Spicer, Kari Lancaster and Francis Matthew-Simmons Drug Policy Modelling Program Paul Dillon Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia Funding has been provided by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing under the National Psychostimulants Initiative September 2010 Drug Policy Modelling Program Monograph Series © NDARC 2010. This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use within your organization. All other rights are reserved. Requests and enquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Information Manager, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia. The Drug Policy Modelling Program Monograph Series is funded by Colonial Foundation Trust. Published by National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. September 2010 ISBN: 978 0 7334 2930 9 The correct citation for this publication is: Hughes, C., Spicer, B., Lancaster, K., Matthew-Simmons, F., & Dillon, P. (2010). Monograph No. 19: Media reporting on illicit drugs in Australia: Trends and impacts on youth attitudes to illicit drug use. DPMP Monograph Series. Sydney: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. MEDIA REPORTING ON ILLICIT DRUGS IN AUSTRALIA THE DRUG MODELLING POLICY PROGRAM This monograph forms part of the Drug Policy Modelling Program (DPMP) Monograph Series. Drugs are a major social problem and are inextricably linked to the major socio-economic issues of our time. Our current drug policies are inadequate and governments are not getting the best returns on their investment. There are a number of reasons why: there is a lack of evidence upon which to base policies; the evidence that does exist is not necessarily analysed and used in policy decision- making; we do not have adequate approaches or models to help policy-makers make good decisions about dealing with drug problems; and drug policy is a highly complicated and politicised arena. The aim of the Drug Policy Modelling Program (DPMP) is to create valuable new drug policy insights, ideas and interventions that will allow Australia to respond with alacrity and success to illicit drug use. DPMP addresses drug policy using a comprehensive approach that includes consideration of law enforcement, prevention, treatment and harm reduction. The dynamic interaction between policy options is an essential component in understanding best investment in drug policy. DPMP conducts rigorous research that provides independent, balanced, non-partisan policy analysis. The areas of work include: developing the evidence-base for policy; developing, implementing and evaluating dynamic policy-relevant models of drug issues; and studying policy-making processes in Australia. Monographs in the series are: 01. What is Australia’s “drug budget”? The policy mix of illicit drug-related government spending in Australia 02. Drug policy interventions: A comprehensive list and a review of classification schemes 03. Estimating the prevalence of problematic heroin use in Melbourne 04. Australian illicit drugs policy: Mapping structures and processes 05. Drug law enforcement: The evidence 06. A systematic review of harm reduction 07. School based drug prevention: A systematic review of the effectiveness on illicit drug use 08. A review of approaches to studying illicit drug markets 09. Heroin markets in Australia: Current understandings and future possibilities 10. Data sources on illicit drug use and harm in Australia i MEDIA REPORTING ON ILLICIT DRUGS IN AUSTRALIA 11. SimDrug: Exploring the complexity of heroin use in Melbourne 12. Popular culture and the prevention of illicit drug use: A pilot study of popular music and the acceptability of drugs 13. Scoping the potential uses of systems thinking in developing policy on illicit drugs 14. Working estimates of the social costs per gram and per user for cannabis, cocaine, opiates and amphetamines 15. Priority areas in illicit drug policy: Perspectives of policy makers 16. A summary of diversion programs for drug and drug-related offenders in Australia 17. A review of Australian public opinion surveys on illicit drugs 18. The coordination of Australian illicit drug policy: A governance perspective 19. Media reporting on illicit drugs in Australia: Trends and impacts on youth attitudes to illicit drug use DPMP strives to generate new policies, new ways of making policy and new policy activity and evaluation. Ultimately our program of work aims to generate effective new illicit drug policy in Australia. I hope this Monograph contributes to Australian drug policy and that you find it informative and useful. Alison Ritter Director, DPMP ii MEDIA REPORTING ON ILLICIT DRUGS IN AUSTRALIA ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost we would like to acknowledge the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing for funding this project under the National Psychostimulants Initiative and for recognising the potential importance of the mainstream media. In addition, we acknowledge the ongoing support of the Colonial Foundation Trust as part of the Drug Policy Modelling Program (DPMP). Thank all those who provided assistance in the conceptualisation and design of the project, particularly Michael Lodge from the NSW Department of Health (formerly of DPMP) who was involved in the commencement of the project. Mention is warranted to Professor Simon Chapman and Professor Rodney Tiffen from the University of Sydney and Professor Melanie Wakefield from the Cancer Council Victoria for their advice on media analysis and media effects methodologies. Thanks also to Adjunct Professor Tom Carroll from the University of Sydney and Dr Jen Badham from Critical Connections for their respective advice on prior drug and alcohol media campaign research and survey design. Finally, thanks to our independent reviewers, Professor Melanie Wakefield and Nicola Singleton from the UK Drug Policy Commission. Input should not be taken as endorsement of the final product. Any errors are the fault of the research team and not those who have provided advice or input. Thanks also for the statistical advice of Dr Tim Slade, Barbara Toson and Elizabeth Conroy from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre and Dr Jake Olivier from the School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of New South Wales; to Alasdair Nicol from WOPR for the online survey development and administration; to Simon Baty from Newspaper Works for generating trends in youth media consumption of newspapers in Australia; to Monica Barratt from the National Drug Research Institute for sharing her knowledge on online surveys and recruitment methods; to Marion Downey from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre for generating initial media interest in the project; to DPMP for feedback throughout the project; and to those who participated in the pilot of the survey and focus groups, especially NDARC staff volunteers. This project has required a huge amount of stakeholder assistance in the promotion and recruitment for our nationwide survey and focus groups. We are indebted to the many government departments (federal, state and local), non-government, youth and drug agencies and universities, technical colleges and online forums who promoted the study. Indeed over 160 agencies assisted. This is a phenomenal effort and without this we would not have been able to attain a large sample of youth. Finally we would like to say a huge thank you to all the young people that took part in the study: for your enthusiasm and insights into the impacts of media reporting on illicit drug use. iii MEDIA REPORTING ON ILLICIT DRUGS IN AUSTRALIA TABLE OF CONTENTS List of tables ............................................................................................................................... vi List of figures ............................................................................................................................ vii Executive summary .................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 9 Media in Australia: Production and consumption ................................................................. 12 Media consumption in Australia ................................................................................................................ 12 Youth consumption of media in Australia: Does it differ? ................................................................... 14 Media regulation and production .............................................................................................................. 16 Theories on media effects ........................................................................................................ 18 Agenda setting .............................................................................................................................................. 19 Framing ......................................................................................................................................................... 19 Perceptions of risk and norms ..................................................................................................................
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