FRANK (drugs)

FRANK is a national anti-drug advisory service jointly established by the Department of Health and Home Office of the British government in 2003.

The most well-known Frank advertisements are focused on Pablo, a small dog used as a mule to smuggle cocaine into the United Kingdom.

[9] In 2007, FRANK removed a website article titled "Cannabis Explained" after several groups pointed out errors in the information presented.

[10][11] The Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith criticised FRANK and drug education more generally in a February 2010 speech, arguing that "Drugs education programmes, such as Talk to FRANK, have failed on prevention and intervention, instead progressively focussing on harm reduction and risk minimisation, which can be counter-productive.

"[12] The Centre for Social Justice, a right-wing think tank set up by Duncan Smith, further argued in a December 2010 paper that FRANK "has proved ineffectual and even damaging, to the point of giving information as to the ‘cost’ and immediate physical effects of drugs more prominently than driving home the danger.