In March 1985 three Dutch organisations, the ANWB, the VVN (both traffic organisations) and the KNMP (the Royal Dutch Association for the Advancement of Pharmacy) started a national campaign called . "Drugs and driving-related skills", which will continue until October 1987. The ANWB, VVN and KNMP use tools such as newsletters, leaflets, television spots, audio-visual meetings with the public and meetings with medical doctors. The starting point of this campaign is to provide as much information as possible on this subject to medical doctors , police, the media, government authorities and the general public. The second point is to obtain more clarity with regard to the legislation on drugs and participation in traffic. There are many reasons why these three organisations decided to organise such a lengthy campaign. The first being the findings of the National Health Council (an advisory body of the Ministry of Health). These findings showed ·that information given to the general public regarding medicaments adversely affecting driving ability should be intensified. Another important fact was the results of research carried out on patients prescribed these medicaments, who were informed of their dangers by way of a sticker on the prescription package. The results showed that the majority of these patients took no notice of the warning stickers. Warning stickers have been used in the Netherlands since 1973: a yellow sticker which warns that driving ability can be impaired and a red sticker stating that a car should not be driven. These stickers are put on the prescription package in the pharmacy. The yellow sticker is used correctly in the majority of pharmacies, whereas the red sticker is seldom or never used. It should be noted that the prescribing doctor should mention on the prescription that a red sticker is necessary . The third reason for starting this campaign was an announcement by Prof. Dr. F.A. Nelemans, Emeritus Professor in Pharmacotherapy. He stated (amongst other things) that 200 people are killed in traffic accidents every year in which medicaments adversely affecting driving ability were partly to blame. The initiative taken by the three organisations concerned has led to support from the Ministry of Health. The Secretary of State for Health started the nationwide campaign in March 1985 and was also responsible for ensuring that a subsidy was granted. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting