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See other news storiesFRANK helpline reaches two million milestone
30 September 2008
The FRANK drugs advice helpline has received its two millionth phone call.
The FRANK helpline was launched in 2003 to offer confidential, non-judgmental drugs advice and to provide people of all ages with information and support about illegal substances.
Drug use among all age ranges, including young people, has fallen in recent years and the majority of young people are on the right track. Trends from the past five years of calls to the helpline reveal a change in the nature of calls received and the demographic of those seeking advice:
- callers to the helpline are getting younger - in the first two years, the majority of calls came from 26 to 35 year olds whereas most calls now come from 16 to 25 year olds
- people are now 18 per cent more likely to call for information, rather than referral or advice
- while cannabis accounts for the most queries, questions about cocaine have seen the highest increase - up from 14 per cent in 2005 to 23 per cent in 2008
Other factors have remained relatively stable:
- females tend to call on behalf of someone else – last year 75 per cent of people calling about someone else were female
- men are most likely to call for themselves and this is seeing a slight increase – in 2005, 56 per cent of callers contacting the helpline on their own behalf were male whereas in 2008 it was 59 per cent
- the majority of calls to the helpline take place in the early evening between 5.30 and 7pm
The FRANK helpline is far from being a typical call centre: a team of up to 75 fully trained drugs workers now man the line 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Find out more on the FRANK website (new window)
