JUST SAY 'NO' GETS A GOOD BOOST FROM GOVERNMENT

"This is your brain." Crack, sizzle. "This is your brain on drugs." The
familiar commercial quickly turned into a clichE9, but the saying still
holds
true. So true, the public service announcements are coming back to a TV near
you. The revival of anti-drug commercials is a positive way to continue the
war on drugs.

It took a well thought out, innovative plan for both President Bill Clinton
and Speaker Newt Gingrich to attach their names to the effort. It's the
worthy cause of convincing kids not to do drugs. To back up their support,
they're pushing for a huge $1 billion commitment from Congress for an
anti-drug campaign blitz over the next five years. Every member of Congress
ought to stand right in line with their leaders and support this project.
Currently, $195 million a year is spent on anti-drug campaigns.

If it balks, all Congress has to lose is the future of this country: youth.

The familiar anti-drug commercials haven't completely disappeared from TV,
but they have slipped to early morning hours instead of prime time. Not only
will these new commercials air when people are actually watching TV, the new
announcements will also send a harsher message. Clinton said the commercials
will "knock America upside the head."

The old commercials show an egg frying in a pan to depict your brain on
drugs. The new version hits harder with an egg being smashed by a pan on a
countertop. Then the pan is thrown across the room crashing into a dish rack
and wall clock. The destruction represents your family, your friends and
your money when you're on heroin.

A series of commercials is surely not the only answer to winning the war on
drugs. But there is some proof that it helps. The old anti-drug commercials
were moved to early morning hours in 1991, when TV competition by cable and
satellites increased. Since then, teen drug use more than doubled. Sure,
there were probably many factors to that drug explosion. But, it makes sense
that one factor is that kids just didn't hear often enough that drugs hurt
them and everyone they love. They didn't have the hard-hitting messages they
needed. The ads' revival could change that.

Media outlets will be asked to match the federal advertising money, doubling
the number of commercials that will be shown. That's the least they should
do. The goal is to hit parents and kids at least four times a week with
these commercials. That's more than Nike or Sprint have spent on any
single-product TV ad campaign.

If Nike can succeed in convincing millions of Americans to buy Air Jordan's
through TV commercials, then Americans ought to succeed in convincing young
people not to do drugs through TV ads.

Since January, 12 cities have viewed the anti-drug ads as a beta-test. In
those cities, there has been a 300 percent increase in calls to the national
anti-drug information phone number which is displayed with the commercial.
That proves people are searching for information and help. The whole country
can benefit from that resource.

In 1997, half of all high school seniors and about one-third of
eighth-graders admitted to using drugs in a national survey. That's a crisis
this country shouldn't accept. In order to battle this epidemic, the ad
campaign will have to be paired with serious discussions at home between
parents and kids, anti-drug school curricula and available drug treatment.
The ads are a great way to help stimulate a true anti-drug society and keep
kids safe.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett