STUDENTS CHALLENGE EFFECTIVENESS OF ANTI-DRUG ADS

By CHELSEA J. CARTER
The Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) -- Lamar Stewart was amused by the anti-drug TV ad of a
20-something woman smashing an egg as well as everything else in the
kitchen with a frying pan.

The ad was supposed to send a simple message: Stay away from heroin, it
will destroy your life. But the 15-year-old told the nation's top
drug-fighter, retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the message was lost on him.

"It was kind of phony. The lady with the frying pan -- that just made me
laugh," he said of the ad, one of four unveiled in Atlanta on Tuesday by
retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy.

The action-packed MTV-style spot -- reminiscent of the 1980s ads that used
a frying egg to demonstrate the effects of drug use on the brain -- is part
of the federal government's $195 million anti-drug campaign targeting
youth.

The ads are being tested in Atlanta and 11 other cities and will be
released nationally in June.

Stewart, of suburban Stone Mountain, told McCaffrey the frying pan ad
failed to tell the audience what really happens when someone uses drugs and
what effect it has on the person's family.

But McCaffrey told an audience of students, politicians and community
leaders that the ad will send a message: Drugs destroy lives.

"We are persuaded from our testing on the ads ... that they will have an
effect. That is one of our most powerful ads," he said.

Cynthia Stephens, 15, of Lawrenceville questioned the effectiveness of the
anti-drug campaign for children living in drug- and alcohol-abuse
environments.

"That's not going to do a whole lot of good if you see your parents doing
it. They are supposed to be your role models," she said.

Three of the ads are aimed at young people ages 9 to 19 and a fourth
targets their parents.

McCaffrey said he went after parents because of recent studies that show
that many who tried drugs in the 1960s and 1970s are more tolerant of
experimentation by their teen-age children. He said the studies also showed
that, "believe it or not, kids listen to their parents."

"We're not going to solve the drug problem in America with television and
radio ads. ... But we estimate the average high school senior has had
12,000 hours of education when they get out of school. That same kid has
watched 15,000 hours of television. You know that television has got an
effect," he said.

Sens. Paul Coverdell, R-Ga., and Max Cleland, D-Ga., and Reps. John Lewis
and Cynthia McKinney, both D-Ga., also attended the unveiling.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who spoke to the audience by videotape, told
of a friend whose 21-year-old daughter overdosed on drugs two years ago and
lives in a nursing home because of brain damage.

"These aren't scare stories. These are historic truths," the Georgia
Republican said.

The ads also are being tested in Baltimore; Boise, Idaho; Denver; Hartford,
Conn.; Houston; Milwaukee; Portland, Ore.; San Diego; Sioux City, Iowa;
Tucson, Ariz.; and Washington. The cities were selected for their diverse
audiences, McCaffrey said.