‘The Other Side of the Line’ is a new campaign by Forward Leeds, the city’s alcohol and drug service, that challenges the normalisation of casual cocaine and ketamine use. While drug use is often portrayed as either glamorous or catastrophic, the campaign focuses on the messy middle ground, where what starts as “just a bit of fun” can quietly become something harmful. Through this work, Forward Leeds aims to reach people who don’t see their use as a problem, encouraging them to pause, reflect, and recognise how easily the line between control and chaos can blur.

At the heart of the campaign are six short, sharply observed films set in everyday environments — a football match, a kitchen, a bus stop, a nightclub toilet. Each scene captures that disorienting shift from confidence to discomfort, from social connection to isolation. As Forward Leeds’ Mark Hindwell explained, the goal is to show the very real ways drugs can disrupt friendships, work, and safety, without resorting to scare tactics. The films make it clear that these substances don’t just affect health; they affect how people show up in their own lives and communities.

The campaign’s cocaine message highlights how use often turns a night out sour. The “buzz” quickly slides into being louder than you realise, crossing boundaries, and losing self-awareness. It points out how cocaine use can drain sleep, patience, and finances, while harm reduction advice reminds users that mixing with alcohol is particularly dangerous because it creates a toxic compound, cocaethylene. For those who decide to stop or cut back, the campaign underlines that the reward is regaining control, presence, and genuine enjoyment.

The ketamine strand takes a similar approach, showing how what feels like relaxation can become disconnection and loss of control. It focuses on the sense of drifting, missing moments, and losing contact with the people around you. It also highlights serious long-term risks such as bladder and kidney damage. Like the cocaine message, it offers practical harm reduction steps and reinforces that support is available. Leeds’ approach is proactive and rooted in real experience, developed together with public health teams, community partners, and people who have lived these stories.

More information can be found at ForwardLeeds.co.uk/TheOtherSideOfTheLine (UK; October 2025)