Pubdate: Thu, 02 Oct 2003 Source: Orange County Register, The (CA) Copyright: 2003 The Orange County Register Contact: http://www2.ocregister.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/321 Author: Tom Riley Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/campaign.htm (ONDCP Media Campaign) ANTI-DRUG ADS HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO BE EFFECTIVE Your editorial about the government's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign misrepresents the facts ["Drug war's bad ads," Opinion, Sept. 29]. (http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=59332)The Register does a disservice to its readers by highlighting selective statistics and ignoring inconvenient evidence. Just last week, the Partnership Attitude Tracking Survey found a strong correlation between regular exposure to anti-drug ads and increased perceptions of risk associated with marijuana use. It also reported that more youths with high exposure to the ads said the ads made them less likely to try or use drugs than youths with little or no exposure. Another study by the Department of Health and Human Services reported last week that youths who had seen or heard drug-prevention messages outside of school used drugs at a rate that was 15 percent lower than youths who had not seen or heard these messages. It is interesting that drug-legalization proponents like the Register seem to be the only group of people leading the charge against this program. Maybe it's because they fear the campaign is actually working? Tom Riley, Director of communications, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy - --- MAP posted-by: Derek