ANTI-POT ADS ARE SUCCESS

Editor -- An article by Mitch Earleywine, "Anti-pot ads have backfired"
(Open Forum, Sept. 26), about the National Anti-Drug Media Campaign,
contains factual inaccuracies.

Using selective and questionable statistics to claim that the campaign has
"backfired," the article ignores the plethora of evidence concluding that
the campaign is making a positive difference in the attitudes and beliefs
of young people in America.

Just last week a study published by RoperASW found a strong correlation
between regular exposure to the ads and increased perceptions of risk
associated with marijuana use. It also reported that far more youth with
high exposure to the ads said the ads made them less likely to try or use
drugs than youth with little or no exposure.

Another study reported last week that youth who had seen or heard drug
prevention messages outside of school used drugs at a rate 15 percent less
than youth who had not seen or heard such messages.

The Media Campaign is more vital than ever before, especially given the
danger that today's high-potency marijuana poses to our young people.

In fact, recent data show that more youth are in drug treatment for
marijuana dependency than for alcohol or all other drugs combined.

That is why it was good news when "Monitoring the Future" reported in 2002
that marijuana use was at a 10-year low among eighth-graders and an
eight-year low among 10th-graders, which are the two target age groups of
the Media Campaign.

Your article does a disservice by ignoring the dangers of drugs as well as
the recent successes of this pivotal part of our strategy to prevent drug
use among kids.

JOHN WALTERS Director

White House Office of

National Drug Control Policy

Washington, D.C.