Dublin Archdiocese has introduced a new drug-awareness program targeted at young people. It is in the format of a text-messaging service for mobile phones. Everyone who owns a mobile phone can text a drug-related term to a phone number. In a matter of seconds they will receive detailed information about the drug and the negative effects it may have. The social services branch of the archdiocese, Crosscare, provides the service. It includes hundreds of jargon words, code words and street language associated with the drug culture. The text reply cannot be shorter than 160 characters. All text messages contain a phone number for further information and the web address of Crosscare's drug awareness program.
For example, if you text the word ‘coke’ to number 50100, you will receive a reply that is something like this, “Coke: white powder, sniffed, adrenaline rush, highly addictive, risk of overdose when used with liquor www.dap.ie Ph: 01 836 0911."
Mobile phones and SMS became available in the last few years of the 20th century, and since then the Irish have developed an affinity for this technology. Since most people have two mobile phones – one for business and one for personal use, the number of phones currently exceeds the number of people. The ratio of phones to inhabitants is 4 million to 4.2 million, or 1.05. Most mobile phone subscribers send more than one text message a day.
Irish telecoms make more income from SMS than voice phone calls. The 50100 Virtual Outreach program is sponsored by Vodaphone and mobile phone service developer Puca Technologies. The service will be available for free across Ireland for a term of six months. This will be followed by a review of the effectiveness of the service. Conor Hickey, director of Crosscare, describes it as "a support service in the pocket" for Ireland’s youth.
Statistics from 2005 show that 3% of students aged from 15 to 24 have used cocaine, and 37% of students of that age have smoked marijuana. 66% of drug users experimented with drugs for the first time when they were in high school. Around 20% of the Irish have done drugs at least once. According to a study conducted by Crosscare, the use of illegal drugs in Ireland is rising. This program may help ward off disastrous repercussions and prevent years of misery or even death.
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