Cllr Frankie Keena

The Chairman of the Athlone Drug Awareness Group, Cllr. Frankie Keena said that he is thrilled with the National exposure that his group received last week following a successful twelve week cinema add campaign. RTE showed the add on all their news programmes last Wednesday and it was great to see that they interviewed a number of teenagers for feedback as well. Last Autumn the group launched a cinema add campaign on substance misuse following consultation with about 25 young people. Really the content of the clip came from the teenagers and this is what made the add so special in that it was developed by young people for young people, he said. This is an unprecedented approach in relation to creating awareness on substance misuse and I am really delighted with it’s success, said Cllr. Keena. The beauty of this is that the add is shown to a captive audience while they are waiting for their movie to start, he added. I have received numerous calls from people congratulating us on this initiative and indeed it is very heartening, he said. I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the general public for their ongoing financial help to this group which played a major role in financing this add, he added. This is not the first time that the Athlone Drug Awareness Group made the national airwaves as in the past the Group were honoured with the visit of President Mary McAleese to Athlone to acknowledge the work of the group. Over the next couple of months we will host an Inter School Talent Show and also will play a key pivotal role in helping the Midlands Regional Drugs Taskforce roll out the very successful Dial To Stop Drug Campaign, concluded Cllr. Keena.