CLINTON'S 'UP SIDE THE HEAD' WAKEUP CALL TO AMERICA

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Seeking to shock children into avoiding illegal
drugs, U.S. President Bill Clinton has launched an unprecedented $2
billion (U.S.) media blitz of provocative radio, television, newspaper and
Internet ads.

The money, half from the government and half to be raised from the private
sector. will be spent over the next five years, beginning last night with
simultaneous anti-drug advertisements on the four major American television
networks.

The ads are designed to be jarring, with one showing a girl screaming and
smashing things with a frying pan while telling the audience this is what
drugs will do to their lives.

Another shows a child recounting her mother's warnings about talking to
strangers and playing with matches. Asked what her mother said about drugs,
the girl is silent.

Officials said they wanted to use the most sophisticated techniques of
television and Hollywood to shake children and their parents out of
complacency about drugs. They described the effort as the largest anti-drug
ad campaign ever launched.

Critics say there is scant evidence such campaigns work and that the $1
billion in government money, and an equal amount in free air time and
advertising space from media groups, could be better spent.

Speaking in Atlanta, Clinton recalled his half-brother Roger's drug habit:

"My brother nearly died from a cocaine habit and I've asked myself a
thousand times: what kind of fool was I that I did not know that this was
going on?

"Nobody in America is free of this. Not the president, not any community,
any school, any church, any neighbourhood. These ads are designed to knock
America up side the head and get America's attention."

Clinton was joined by Republican House of Representatives Speaker Newt
Gingrich, who said Congress, which provided $195 million for the program's
first year, would come up with the rest. "We are all trying to reach out to
every young American and say: Don't do it," Gingrich said.

BETTER SPENT

The campaign has critics.

"For the past 10 years, our nation's kids have been bombarded with
anti-drug messages and it is these same kids who are experimenting with
more drugs," said Ethan Nadelmann, of the Lindesmith Centre.

Lindesmith is a drug policy group, financed by investor George Soros, who
advocates decriminalizing some drugs and emphasizing treatment instead of
punishment.

"While these ads are well-intended, this money could be better spent on
programs proven effective in reducing drug use, such as after-school
programs and treatment on demand."