AREA DRUG BILLBOARDS FEATURED IN NATIONAL PUBLICATION

The Region VIII Champions for a Drug Free Kentucky showcase billboards have
been featured in the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign fall newsletter.

The feature includes a photograph of the billboard reproducing Mason County
Middle School student Erin DeVaughn's anti-drug poster. Erin's anti-drug is
the theater. The feature also tells about the billboard project sponsored
by Region VIII Champions, a volunteer citizen's coalition from Bracken,
Fleming, Lewis, Mason and Robertson counties.

More than 1,000 middle school students in the five counties described or
illustrated their anti-drugs and the top 35 were reproduced on the billboards.

Region VIII's efforts were brought to the attention of the Office of
National Drug Control Policy by LaDonna Barnett, director of Comprehend's
Regional Prevention Center.

Barnett said she decided to contact the media campaign after realizing the
Champion's showcases were already doing what the campaign was promoting.

In 1998, with bipartisan support and through the efforts of the Congress
and the President, ONDCP created the National Youth Anti-Drug Media
Campaign, a multi-dimensional effort to educate and empower youth to reject
illicit drugs.

Nearly a year of research went into designing the campaign. Hundreds of
individuals and organizations were consulted, including experts in teen
marketing, advertising and communication; behavior change experts; drug
prevention practitioners and representatives from professional, civic, and
community organizations. These findings resulted in a comprehensive
communication strategy which uses a variety of media and messages to reach
young people, their parents, and other youth-influential adults.

National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign includes core messages for both
young people and parents.

The campaign stresses the following messages for young people

- -- Most teens do not use drugs or approve of drug use.

- -- Use of specific drugs has many negative consequences.

- -- Remaining drug-free has many positive consequences.

- -- There are skills young people can learn to enable them to stay drug-free.

- -- There are positive ways young people can use their time after school and
on weekends.

Parents and other influential adults should remember

- -- Their children are at risk for using drugs.

- -- They are a strong influence on whether their child will use drugs.

- -- There are simple, effective actions adults can take to help children
avoid drug use.

The campaign is more than just an ad campaign. It has a presence on prime
time TV, the Internet and other media.

"We are creating an entirely new media environment. Now, whenever our
nation's children turn on the television, listen to the radio, or surf the
Internet, they will get a powerful message against drug use," said Barry R.
McCaffrey, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

For more information on Region VIII Champions for a Drug Free Kentucky
visit www.u-need-2-know.com.