MADD WANTS ANTI-ALCOHOL ADS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Advocates hoping to curb underage drinking want Congress
to fund a media campaign comparable to one that tries to discourage
teen-age drug use.

Millie Webb, national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said
alcohol kills 6.5 times more young people than all other illicit drugs
combined. She added that beer and wine companies spend more than $1 billion
a year advertising and marketing their alcoholic beverages.

"No matter how well our parents have discussed the rules, that's a lot of
competition and they face an uphill battle," Webb said. "We've got to
counteract those ads and educate young people that it's alcohol that's
killing them."

A bill being introduced Friday by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., would authorize
$1 million to develop a campaign strategy for the anti-alcohol ads.

The campaign would be administered through the Department of Health and
Human Services, working with the surgeon general. The amount to be spent on
the ads has not been determined.

Like the anti-drug spots, broadcast, print and Internet media outlets would
be required to match every anti-alcohol ad with a free one.

A similar measure already is pending in the House, sponsored by Reps.
Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., and Zach Wamp, R-Tenn.

Reid said Sen. John Warner, R-Va., had signed onto the measure.

"This is bipartisan. I think we're going to be able to do this," Reid said.

The anti-drug ads are part of a five-year, $185 million campaign approved
by Congress that claims to reach 90 percent of young people four to seven
times a week. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy uses
television, radio, the Internet, newspapers, magazines and bus and movie
ads to target young people, parents, teachers, mentors, coaches and others.

As part of that legislation, the media are required to match every spot
bought by the government with a free one.

Government officials, including Barry McCaffrey, the former drug policy
director, long have said the anti-drug campaign needed to include alcohol,
but money was never allocated.