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The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign Hearing Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Treasury and General Government Statement for the Record General Arthur T. Dean, Major General, US Army, Retired Chairman and CEO Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America 901 N. Pitt Street, Suite 300 Alexandria, VA 22314 Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) strongly supports continued FY 2003 funding for the Office of National Drug Control Policy's (ONDCP) National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign (henceforth the Media Campaign) at the $180 million level requested in the President's Budget. The Media Campaign has proven to be an invaluable, universal prevention tool that has put the issue of youth drug use back on the radar screen of the American public. CADCA has seen the benefits and effectiveness of the Media Campaign reflected in communities throughout the nation. Last year, CADCA surveyed a subset of our coalition members who have been involved with the Media Campaign since its inception. This survey showed that the Media Campaign has:
There is compelling evidence that the Media Campaign has been very successful in raising awareness about the drug issue among the general population. This heightened awareness has had a direct impact on the demand for prevention information and materials requested from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI). NCADI saw major increases in inquiries, orders, and website access due to the Media Campaign. NCADI measured the level of inquires, orders and web hits in 1997, six months before the Media Campaign began and then again in 1998, six months after the inception of the Media Campaign. There was a 165% increase in inquires, a 111% increase in filled orders and a 126% increase in website access over this one year period. The problem of denial among adults, regarding youth drug use, is usually a major impediment to getting them involved in prevention efforts. Due to the Media Campaign, local coalitions as well as other groups and organizations experienced an increased demand for training and information about the drug issue because they now understood that this was a problem they needed to personally address. This resulted in their requesting multiple copies of NCADI's publications and materials to distribute to parents, schools and other groups in their local areas who had an interest in learning more about drugs due to the Media Campaign. The distribution of NCADI publications was measured before the Media Campaign was launched, and again a year after its initiation. The increase in demand for publications related to the themes of the Media Campaign was tremendous: "Marijuana, Facts for Teens" increased 117%; "Marijuana, Facts Parents Need To Know" increased 84%; "Keeping Youth Drug Free" increased 70%; "Tips for Teens About Inhalants" increased 76%; "Marijuana, Facts for Teens" in Spanish, increased 76%; and "Marijuana, Facts Parents Need To Know" in Spanish, increased 93%. The Media Campaign has also directly contributed to the success of many community anti-drug coalitions by providing a high level of sustained public awareness that coalitions can leverage and build upon. The "You Can Help Kids" and the "You Get More When You Get Together," segments of the campaign, actually promoted anti-drug coalitions. The "You Can Help Kids" ads encouraged parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, faith leaders, and others who influence and interact with America's youth, to join local coalitions and work to keep youth drug free. The "You Get More When You Get Together" ads demonstrated the power of coalitions by highlighting representational coalition success stories and encouraged individuals to get their groups involved in the local coalition movement. The Ad Council and ONDCP asked for CADCA's help in enlisting local community anti-drug coalitions to participate by having local viewers referred to the coalitions in their area. Viewers of the ads who called a national toll-free hotline or logged onto the campaign website were given the opportunity to receive contact information for the coalition in their community. 336 of CADCA's coalition members participated in this effort and have reported expansions of both their volunteer base and the number of local partners due to their involvement in the Media Campaign. Business leaders were not a group particularly involved or interested in drug prevention prior to the Media Campaign. As a direct result of the Media Campaign, business leaders in communities around the nation have donated money, time and equipment to local coalitions. A large corporation in Michigan donated $25,000 to the Troy Community Coalition for the Prevention of Drug and Alcohol Abuse located in Troy, Michigan. This company had not considered including drug prevention activities among its charitable giving priorities before the Media Campaign brought the seriousness and importance of this issue to attention of the general public. CADCA fully supports the President's FY 2003 Budget request of $180 million based on the positive feedback and statistics from CADCA members nationwide that the Media Campaign has been extremely effective. The Media Campaign has consistently: increased awareness about the drug issue; resulted in specific reductions in use among youth who report regularly seeing or hearing the ads; resulted in increased interest in parent trainings; broken through the denial of adults about youth drug use; and encouraged previously hard to organize sectors of a community, such as the business sector, to become involved with the community anti-drug coalition movement. The Media Campaign has been an invaluable resource in helping to address youth drug use in communities around the nation. 
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