From: Jim Rosenfield <[j n r] at [igc.apc.org]>
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
Subject: New PDFA Campaign Against MJ
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 15:15:29 -0800 (PST)

From: Jim Rosenfield <jnr>

UP  01/23 Marijuana target of new ad campaign

By TRACY CONNOR 
   NEW YORK, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Pot. Hashish. Mary Jane. Cannabis.
Whatever you call it, marijuana is the target of a new nationwide public
service advertising campaign from the Partnership for a Drug-Free
America. 
   At a news conference in Manhattan Monday, partnership officials said
studies have shown that marijuana use by teenagers has risen sharply
over the last two years and positive perceptions of the drug are growing
among youth. 
   "After years of progress and a very dramatic reduction in drug use, a
reversal is now occurring," said partnership Chairman James Burke, who
was flanked by Lee Brown, director of the White House Office on National
Drug Control Policy. 
   "Leading national indicators suggest a marijuana crisis is now
emerging," Burke said, introducing seven new television spots. 
   Dr. Lloyd Johnstone of the University of Michigan, who conducts
yearly surveys of teenagers on drug use, said that although marijuana
use declined steadily between 1979 and 1991, it has doubled among
eighth-graders in the last two years. 
   Thirteen percent of eighth graders surveyed in 1994 admitted using
the drug in the previous 12 months, up from 6.5 percent in 1992, when
the increase began to be seen. In addition, use among 10th graders was
up to 25 percent in 1994 from 15 percent in 1992. And among 12th
graders, usage rose to 31 percent in 1994 from 22 percent two years
before. 
   He said the current crop of teenagers faces different attitudes
toward marijuana than in the '70s, when use among minors peaked at 50.8
percent. Many parents of today's teens used the drug; some popular rap
and rock groups encourage its use; and the five-point marijuana leaf has
become a popular design motif. 
   "I think it's unlikely things are going to get better in the near
future," he said. "They'll get worse before they get better again." 
   Allen Rosenshine, chairman of BBDO Worldwide, a noted advertising
firm, created the anti-marijuana advertising campaign at no cost to the
partnership, which is a non-profit coalition of representatives from the
communications industry and anti-drug activists. 
   He said the creative team behind the ads had to consider several
obstacles: teenagers' perception that most of their peers smoke pot and
that marijuana will help them cope with the daily problems of life, and
the common knowledge that marijuana will not cause any immediate, direct
harm to the user. 
   Instead, the youngsters in the ads talk about their increasing
dependence on marijuana, its role as a "gateway" to harder drugs, and
the impact on their lives. 
   The campaign does not use any of the slogans the partnership is best
known for, such as the "This is your brain on drugs," line that
accompanied a shot of a messily fried egg. 
   Allen St. Pierre, deputy national director for the National
Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws, said that although his group
supports legalization for adults only, the partnership's newest campaign
is "misguided." 
   "You have to ask why they are devoting their enormous resources to a
campaign on teens and marijuana when they could be focusing on crack,
cocaine, tobacco or alcohol, all of which are killing people right now,"
he said. 
   Since March 1987, volunteers for the partnership have created over
400 ads, and the value of air time and print space donated to the group
is over $1.7 billion. 
   
Copyright 1995 United Press International  <<>>