ANTI-DRUG MESSAGES GIVEN A TEST IN MIDDLE SCHOOL

They may not have been old enough to remember former First Lady Nancy
Reagan's "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign, but on Tuesday the catchy phrase
was flowing freely from the mouths of Charles County middle school students.

The "Just Say No" campaign of the millennial generation made its way to
Milton M. Somers Middle School this week, with Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.)
testing the slogans this time around.

More than 30 youngsters and a handful of parents served as a focus group
for a new media campaign planned by the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy.

"Don't blow it," warned figure skating champion Tara Lipinski in one
commercial.

"There's never been a better time to be a girl. There's never been a better
time not to use drugs," said a player from the Women's World Cup soccer
team in another.

"The fact of the matter is that [TV] is the most powerful communication
device that anyone's ever invented," Hoyer said while leading a discussion
with the students after they viewed the commercials. Several members of the
Office of National Drug Control Policy advertising firm Ogilvy and Mather
also were on hand to talk to the youngsters.

Hoyer said the government has pumped $18 billion into its anti-drug campaign.

"Just say no. Isn't that simple? It's not simple," he said to the students.
"It's an easy concept but we know that it's hard to do."

Drug use among adolescents peaked in the 1990s and now appears to be
leveling off. A recent national survey of eighth- and 10th-graders and high
school seniors found that drug use remained steady in 1999. The survey was
conducted by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research and
financed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National
Institutes of Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Somers Principal Joseph Warfield said most of the campaign efforts should
target middle school students because they are more susceptible to peer
pressure than the older teenagers.

"I've seen so many good kids who have gone in the wrong direction," he
said. "We have to catch them early and try to turn them around."

Warfield said he once worked at a high school and saw many students get
hooked on drugs. "Once they get to high school, it takes a traumatic
experience to turn them around," he said.

Hoyer agreed that middle school is a critical period for children. "They
are now getting to an age when we know there's more experimentation going
on," he said.

That was one reason, Hoyer said, that he decided to visit the La Plata
school on Tuesday. The students' comments were simple and direct.

The commercials "were short, and teens don't like the long stuff," said
Clifton Cole, 14.

"We should focus on the outcomes of drugs in the commercials," offered
Christa May, 14.

All the students said they have encountered some form of peer pressure at
school. "People think it's cool, and they want you to be like them," said
Jessica Nutter, 13.

"It makes me upset that they want to do it," said Hillary Spalding, 13.