ONLY A BRAIN ON DRUGS COULD HAVE MADE ADS

The $180 million a year that the federal government spends on anti-drug
commercials would be the greatest investment in the world, if only they
worked. So far, they haven't, says new national drug czar John P. Walters.
In fact, one survey indicated the commercials may encourage children 10 to
12 years old to try pot.

They don't work because, believe it or not, they weren't tested. Campbell
Soup would never run untested commercials. Why should the government, with
the stakes so high?

The commercials are untested, officials say, because the ad agencies
deliver them just before they are scheduled to air. Most are produced for
free, so the government doesn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Clearly, this needs to be fixed.

Many of the commercials talk at kids, which never works. In making an
anti-drug commercial, ad folks should start by talking with youths.

If they did, they'd learn how hollow the ads ring. One commercial implies
that drawing and other hobbies can deliver a natural high. Surely no one
asked youths, "Do you buy that?" Who thinks that drawing fruit in a vase
produces a high similar to the one from smoking marijuana?

Most discouraging, a wide range of spots, from uplifting to scary, hasn't
worked.

In the University of Michigan's most recent annual survey on drug abuse by
young people, a fourth of high school seniors said that they used illegal
drugs in the prior month, and more than half reported that they had
experimented with illegal drugs.

At least two things work against the anti-drug commercials: One, young
people are suspicious of whatever adults say, and two, millions of adults
use illegal drugs themselves. Many millions more wreck their lives chugging
alcohol, a legal drug.

Most youths know children who've used illegal drugs without apparent harm.
If a commercial says that drugs destroy brains, but a youth watching the
commercial knows straight-A students doing drugs, the commercial won't work.

The ads are clever and creative. And they make adults feel better that
something serious is being done.

But if a way can't be found to make them reduce adolescent drug use, then
the $180 million ought to be invested in something that will.