Drug Warriors Admit Their Propaganda Fails PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE DrugSense FOCUS Alert #243 Wed. May 15, 2002 Being a prohibitionist means you never turn your back on well-funded projects, no matter how dismal the results. Drug Czar John Walters this week acknowledged that the television advertising campaign designed to push young viewers away from drugs has failed. Walters makes his admission at a significant time, as the ad campaign will soon be considered for refunding by the US Congress. Quoted in a Wall Street Journal story, Walters is ready to fight for the funds, despite poor outcomes. Even though his colleagues couldn't get it right after spending $929 million on the program, Walters says that the ads can be improved. He also talks about more insidious plans to lobby television script writers for more drug hysteria. While the story addresses the ad program's failure as measured by survey, it overlooks many ethical questions raised by government payments to media outlets. Despite some problems in the reporting of the story, even the WSJ sees what's going on: "In effect, Mr. Walters is attempting to spin some otherwise gloomy news." Please write to the Wall Street Journal to ask if legislators are going to throw away another $929 million for a program that threatens the quality of information about drugs more than it threatens drug use. Thanks for your effort and support. WRITE A LETTER TODAY It's not what others do it's what YOU do PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter, Phone, fax etc.) Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the sent letter list () if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to if you are not subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list () will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts. To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm and/or http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is one very effective way of gauging our impact and effectiveness. CONTACT INFO Source: Wall Street Journal (US) Contact: ARTICLE Pubdate: Tue, 14 May 2002 Source: Wall Street Journal (US) Copyright: 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Contact: Website: http://www.wsj.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487 Author: Vanessa O'connell URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n915/a09.ht NEW DRUG CZAR SAYS AD CAMPAIGN AIMED AT CHILDREN HAS FLOPPED WASHINGTON -- So much for those flashy TV ads intended to inspire American kids to stay off drugs . The new U.S. drug czar, John P. Walters, says the government's antidrug advertising of recent years has failed. Worse, he fears it even may have inspired some youngsters to experiment with marijuana. "This campaign isn't reducing drug use," said Mr. Walters, who became head of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy earlier this year. Mr. Walters was openly critical of the ads even before taking office, and argued that the advertising effort was in dire need of an overhaul. Now, he said, he is armed with survey data that support his suspicions that the campaign hasn't worked. The five-year-old antidrug program is unusual among public-health advertising because it is funded largely by taxpayers -- $929 million so far -- rather than nonprofit groups or public service spots that media outlets run free of charge. Moreover, Congress enacted an unusual law requiring TV networks, cable outlets, magazines and other media to donate an equal amount of ad space for each ad purchase, effectively doubling the impact of the government dollars. The so-called National Youth Anti-Drug Media campaign includes more than 212 TV commercials featuring such performers as the Dixie Chicks and hip-hop singer Mary J. Blige, as well as actors posing as drug users. The campaign, developed by some of the best-known agencies on Madison Avenue, was considered a novel step in public health advertising because it was aimed directly at kids. (The ads didn't include the famous "This is your brain on drugs " commercials, a campaign from a nonprofit group that no longer is being used.) The antidrug effort is now up for reauthorization for an additional five years. At a time when plenty of government programs are seeking funding, Mr. Walters wants Congress to appropriate for next fiscal year the same $180 million it gave to the campaign this year, though he argues it will be managed more efficiently. He spent much of Monday afternoon placing calls to U.S. lawmakers, national nonprofit organizations and other players in the war on drugs to argue that while the effort has failed to achieve its goals, it deserves continued support. (Snipped for space - to see the article in its entirety, go here: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n915/a09.ht) Although traditional advertising has been the centerpiece of the effort, the Office of National Drug Control Policy has been experimenting with other means of getting its message across. For example, the office has been bringing together TV script writers with drug abuse experts in an effort to persuade the creators of TV shows to show drug abuse as a problem that extends beyond poor inner-city neighborhoods. Starved for ad dollars amid an advertising recession now in its second year, the media world initially hoped it could get paid by the antidrug agency to promote its cause in shows. But the government so far hasn't paid for script development with taxpayer funds. People familiar with the matter said that if the traditional advertising continues to deliver disappointing results, the office will abandon the program and Mr. Walters will begin to experiment with other ways of reaching young people. He declined to be more specific, adding, "We intend to be more rigorous in our testing." Mr. Walters also suggested he may target older teenagers rather than kids 12 and 13 years old. According to data cited by the government agency, drug abuse by young people remains stubbornly high. In an annual survey by the University of Michigan released last December, 25% of high-school seniors said they used illegal drugs in the prior month; more than half said they experimented with illegal drugs at least once before graduation. SAMPLE LETTER (sent) To the Editor of the Wall Street Journal: After spending $929 million over four years, the Office of National Drug Policy Control has finally determined that taxpayer-sponsored anti-drug ads fail to impact levels of youth drug use ("New drug czar says ad campaign aimed at children has flopped," May 14). Is anybody really surprised? Even less surprising is the reaction of drug czar John Walters: Lobby for additional funds to keep the program going. As usual, measured failure in drug control efforts is met with outstretched palms and promises that things are going to get better, as long as the funding continues. Somewhat surprising was the assertion made by the story's author: "But the government so far hasn't paid for script development with taxpayer funds." That statement contradicts details reported only a couple years ago by many media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal. The Journal story titled "Subplot: Networks let White House vet scripts to press antidrug line" (Jan. 14, 2000) states: "To broadcast various antidrug messages in commercials and during shows, Mr. Weiner said the drug office will pay networks nearly $200 million in the year that started Oct. 1." Did we pay or didn't we? Those of us critical of the government's anti-drug media campaign have worried that dangling advertising dollars in front of newspapers and TV stations will encourage the media to spin information towards the government's viewpoint. Did I just see that happen? Stephen Young IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work. TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts 3 Tips for Letter Writers http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm TARGET ANALYSIS From their website: "The Wall Street Journal's 1,943,601 readers are a highly intelligent, diverse and desirable audience for marketers. They are today's key decision makers in government, commerce and industry...." So the Journal is a very good target for Letters to the Editor. Our sample of the body of published letters shows that the average one printed is about 210 words, with a range of from 116 words to 400 words. These published letters averaged 3.7 paragraphs with a range of 1 to 7 paragraphs. We notice that about half of published letters included some title that reflected a possible expertise in the subject, so if you have such a title as a reformer, author, whatever, please include it. To review previous published letters please click this link: http://www.mapinc.org/mapcgi/ltedex.pl?SOURCE=Wall+Street+Journal Maybe we will not have seven letters published in a special box as we did back in June '98 http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98/n493/a02.html - but with your help we can at least try! Prepared by Stephen Young -www.maximizingharm.com and Richard Lake Focus Alert Specialists

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