The "Get the Msg!" initiative announced today by the New Zealand Drug Foundation, Vodafone and Run The Red, a new-technology company that has provided the technical support for the venture, has got the support of Jim Anderton, the Associate Minister of Health and Chair of the Ministerial Committee on Drugs.
“Any project that gets information to our young people on the risks of taking drugs, and can connect them to finding help if they have a problem, gets my vote," Jim Anderton said. "Mobile phones and txting is a way of life for young people today, so using this technology appears to be a smart move, and is based on a pilot in Ireland that has shown itself to be very successful”.
"The responses you get when using this programme can appear somewhat mild to those of us who are anti-drugs, but as the idea behind the service is to make kids stop and think by txting for information on drugs I can understand and support the approach taken,” Jim Anderton said.
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