Endeavour Award Marks 20 Years of Drugs Awareness

A community group in Dublin is marking its 20th anniversary with a special ‘Endeavour Award’ as part of the annual ‘Let’s Talk About Drugs’ National Media Awards.

One of the first aims of the Greater Blanchardstown Response to Drugs (GBRD), which was set up back in 1992, was to provide drugs awareness courses to educate individuals, families and groups about various drugs issues.

The ‘Let’s Talk About Drugs’ National Media Awards 2012, supported by the County Dublin VEC and the Health Service Executive/Drugs.ie, encourages members of the public to talk about alcohol and drugs by creating original newspaper articles, cartoon strips, audio features or video/animated features based around the official themes.

The educational initiative is open to students and adults in Ireland aged twelve and over and the deadline for entries is next Friday, March 30th. The GBRD Endeavour Award will be to the value of €1,000, to coincide with its special anniversary year.

Among the achievements of the GBRD in their twenty year history, is that they became the first community based initiative around Education, Training and Information around the drug-issue in their area. The community-run organisation also assists in the coordination of services of commemoration of hope for those who died from drug-related causes, highlighting the lack of treatment facilities available.

A “Drugs and Community” report was also launched by the Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy, at the invitation of the GBRD. This report by Jennifer D’Arcy explores the nature and extent of drug use in the Greater Blanchardstown area and was funded by the Blanchardstown Local Drug Task Force. The GBRD have also organised a series of Information Roadshows continuing to build a strong reputation in drugs research and information.

Speaking about the 20th anniversary of the Greater Blanchardstown Response to Drugs, Phillip Keegan, Co-ordinator with GBRD said: “The community organisation was originally set up twenty years ago in response to a growing drug problem that was emerging within communities. To mark our 20th anniversary, an endeavour award worth €1,000, will be presented to the winner at this year’s ‘Let’s Talk About Drugs’ National Media Awards ceremony in May.”

The Minister for the Department of Health with responsibility for Primary Care, Ms. Roisin Shortall, T.D. will present the awards ceremony and Caroline Twohig from the fyi television programme on 3e will also feature at the event. Phoenix FM and the Dublin People Group are the media partners for this year’s competition.

Full details for the Let’s Talk About Drugs National Media Awards 2012 competition are available from gbrd.ie and drugs.ie or by phoning 01 – 8262364. The official hashtag on Twitter is #talkdrugs and the Facebook page is Let’s Talk About Drugs – National Media Awards 2012.