cannabisnews.com: Anti-Drug Advertising Campaign a Failure Anti-Drug Advertising Campaign a Failure Posted by CN Staff on August 28, 2006 at 21:46:24 PT By Donna Leinwand, USA Today Source: USA Today Washington, DC -- A $1.4 billion anti-drug advertising campaign conducted by the U.S. government since 1998 does not appear to have helped reduce drug use and instead might have convinced some youths that taking illegal drugs is normal, the Government Accountability Office says.The GAO report, released Friday, urges Congress to stop the White House's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign unless drug czar John Walters can come up with a better strategy. President Bush's budget for 2007 asks Congress for $120 million for the campaign, a $20 million increase from this year. Walters' office disputed the study and noted that drug-use rates among youths have declined since 1998. A 2005 survey by the University of Michigan indicated that 30% of 10th-graders reported having used an illicit drug the previous year, down from 35% in 1998.The GAO report is "irrelevant to us," says Tom Riley, spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). "It's based on ads from 2˝ years ago, and they were effective, too. Drug use has been going down dramatically. Cutting the program now would imperil (its) progress." Snipped:Complete Article: http://tinyurl.com/f7678Source: USA Today (US)Author: Donna Leinwand, USA TodayPublished: August 28, 2006Copyright: 2006 USA Today, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.Contact: editor usatoday.comWebsite: http://www.usatoday.com/Related Articles:GAO: $1 Bil.+ Anti-Drug Effort Ineffective http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22102.shtmlWhite House Unveils Latest Anti-Drug Effort http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21592.shtmlSenators Join Critics Of ONDCP Program http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17774.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #9 posted by freewillks on August 29, 2006 at 10:46:50 PT Truth in advertising! They get the point that nothing they have said for the past seventy years is going to happen. Click on Pete's couch. http://www.mediacampaign.org/mg/television.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by freewillks on August 29, 2006 at 10:03:39 PT spare me and yourself! Walters criticized the methodology cited in the GAO report. He said Westat wanted proof of a direct link between the ads and decreases in drug use among teens, which is difficult to show. Whats wrong with a direct link to prove the point? Do you think it is wise to spend $120,000,000 a year on smoke and mirrors? Compare That with 31 million spent to advertise viagra. How many highschool students know about viagra. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by ekim on August 29, 2006 at 08:23:31 PT so 43 million $ study says - educate and regulate The report by the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, confirmed the results of a $43 million, government-funded study that found the campaign did not work. That evaluation, by Westat Inc. and the University of Pennsylvania, said parents and youths remembered the ads and their messages. But the study said exposure to the ads did not change kids' attitudes about drugs and that the reduction in drug use in recent years could be attributed more directly to a range of other factors, such as a decline in high school dropouts. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Wayne on August 29, 2006 at 05:49:19 PT bla bla blahh says Tom Riley, spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), "Drug use has been going down dramatically."A 5% drop over 7 years is NOT dramatic. The only thing dramatic is your comments."The GAO report is 'irrelevant to us.'"Of course it is. And so are states' rights, public opinion, and wasted tax dollars too, I suppose. I forgot that the ONDCP doesn't answer to anyone. My bad...You know, 'ONDCP' is kind of hard to say. It doesn't have quite the same ring as 'SS'. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by freewillks on August 29, 2006 at 05:10:54 PT Facts Are these the Facts the DEA wants to use? Why do we have researchers if the DEA and ONDCP are the only people on this earth that know anything? Glad to see this in USA Today. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by global_warming on August 29, 2006 at 02:55:10 PT mind control http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13845.htmInteresting video..Mind Control: America's Secret War A History Channel Documentaryhttp://www.wanttoknow.info/060823mindcontroldocumentary [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by whig on August 29, 2006 at 02:44:24 PT Oh Egg on my face, too.Government Accountability Office.Well, so that's what happens when I'm a little too tired to be posting. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by whig on August 29, 2006 at 02:43:12 PT GAO ...stands for "Government Accounting Office.""Walters' office disputed the study..."So he's an accountant now? The GAO releases a comprehensive report, and he just brushes it off like it doesn't matter?Don't say Czar, say Tyrant. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by global_warming on August 29, 2006 at 01:52:50 PT and further The Sun Says: Tax dollars used for ill-conceived DEA pushhttp://tinyurl.com/zxc49"It's hardly news that Drug Enforcement Agency officials are opposed to a Colorado ballot initiative seeking to make it legal for adults to possess small amounts of marijuana.It certainly is news, however, when DEA agents admit to spending staff time, paid for by taxpayer dollars, fighting that ballot measure or any other.The Daily Camera reported Aug. 27 that DEA agent Michael Moore sent out e-mails to political consultants looking for someone to advise the federal agency how to set up a campaign against the amendment.The issue comes before voters in November and seeks to allow state residents over 21 to keep up to 1 ounce of marijuana.The wisdom of such a change in drug laws is certainly debatable. American learned hard lessons during Prohibition, mostly that it neither kept people from drinking nor persuade Americans to shun alcohol.Clearly, for all the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on fighting the so-called War on Drugs, illegal drug use seems as dangerous and pervasive as ever.It's unclear whether decriminalization of drugs such as marijuana would have any effect on American drug use or drug sales, but it's hard to argue that there's much of a black market for alcohol these days."...snipped*******************************Marijuana initiative qualifies for ballot By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Missoulian An initiative that aims to make marijuana offenses the single lowest priority for Missoula County law enforcement has qualified for a spot on the November ballot, according to proponents of the measure.Dubbed Initiative 2, the measure was proposed by Citizens for Responsible Crime Policy, and, thanks in part to months of aggressive signature gathering, has won the support of more than 20,000 registered voters in Missoula County. The measure required just 11,723 signatures to place on the ballot.If enough voters support Initiative 2 in November's general election, the measure would lean on local law enforcement to make “citations, arrests, property seizures and prosecutions for adult marijuana offenses Missoula County's lowest law enforcement priority,” according to the proposal. * The measure would not include marijuana sales or drug use by minors as low-priority offenses, and would in no way legalize the drug.While the initiative is a mere suggestion to law enforcement, and not a law, the proposal does call for a Community Oversight Committee. The committee would consist of community members, criminal defense attorneys and a drug rehabilitation counselor who would investigate marijuana arrests and produce a report on the initiative's effects seven months after its passage.“Initiative 2 will create a citizen oversight committee that would annually track and report to taxpayers how much local government time and money are being spent on adult marijuana offenses as compared to other law enforcement issues,” said Angela Goodhope, a spokeswoman for the group."...http://tinyurl.com/ej9wy [ Post Comment ] Post Comment