How Well Do those ONDCP ADS Work? ... Not Very , says the government.
After spending close to a billion of our tax dollars on advertising aimed at
getting kids to stop using drugs, our drug czar admits it was money down the
drain. The ads didn't work and drug use amongst youth remains high. In fact,
some kids who saw the ads said they'd be MORE likely to try drugs after seeing
the ads. In true drug warrior tradition he is requesting the same $180 million
from congress again this year to run more ads. The philosophy seems to be " Just
because it has never worked before is no reason to assume it won't work next
time."
The 4th semi-annual evaluation of ONDCP's anti-drug media campaign
is
finally available online. Copies in PDF format can be downloaded from:
http://www.nida.nih.gov/despr/westat/index.html
A copy of the executive summary is available from:
http://www.nida.nih.gov/PDF/DESPR/Table_ExecSumm.pdf
According to the report,
"There is little evidence of direct favorable Campaign effects on
youth. There is no statistically significant decline in marijuana use or
improvements in beliefs and attitudes about marijuana use between 2000
and 2001, and no tendency for those reporting more exposure to Campaign
messages to hold more desirable beliefs. For some outcomes, and for some
subgroups of respondents, analysis raises the possibility that those
with more exposure to the specific Campaign ads at the start of Phase
III of the Campaign had less favorable outcomes over the following 18
months. This was true for the youth respondents who were nonusers and
aged 10 to 12 at the start of this phase, with regard to their
intentions to use marijuana in the future and for all youth 12 to 18 for
their perceived social norms about marijuana use. Girls with the highest
exposure to Campaign ads at the start were more likely than less exposed
girls to initiate marijuana use. This effect was not seen for boys. This
unfavorable association with initiation was also significant for the
youngest respondents and for the low risk respondents. Further analysis
is required before any firm conclusion can be reached to support these
unlikely outcomes." (p. xi)
Further:
"NSPY (National Survey of Parents and Youth) also examined rates of
change in three other measures of marijuana use. Ever use, regular use
(almost every month), and use in the previous 30 days. For all ages and
for all of those measures, use was unchanging between 2000 and 2001,
with two exceptions. Reports of regular use and last 30 days use, while
still rare, were significantly increasing among youth who were 14- to
15-years-old. Reports of past month use increased from 3.6% to 7.2%, and
regular use (defined as use every month or almost every month) increased
from 2.2% to 5.4%." (p. xxiv)
