SELLING A DRUG-FREE AMERICA

Advertising that lets kids know the danger of smoking or taking drugs works.
For years the work of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America has been
proven, with statistically significant research, to convince kids that drugs
are dangerous. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
attributed falling teenage smoking rates in part to national media efforts.

I thought I was inured to the cynicism of politicians and bureaucrats. I was
not prepared, however, for the Office of National Drug Control Policy to
take a report that showed, at worst, a neutral result, and to use it to try
to dump an effort that can help kids across the country. The National Youth
Anti-Drug Media Campaign is not as effective as it could be because it's
being run badly -- not because it's a bad idea.

JOHN STRANGER

La Canada, Calif.