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Action Alert: House to Vote on $1Billion Drug Ad Campaign

By Jeralyn, Section Legislation
Posted on Mon Sep 29, 2003 at 03:37:26 PM EST
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This just in via email from the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP):

Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 30, the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Reauthorization Act of 2003. This bill authorizes the drug czar to spend more than $1 billion dollars over the next five years for the continued funding of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. If you do not call your U.S. representative immediately, this bill -- along with the media campaign funding --will almost certainly be approved.

Please call your U.S. representative toll-free by using the Capitol Switchboard at 800-839-5276. This switchboard operates 24 hours a day. So if you are inspired to call after normal business hours in D.C., the operator will transfer you to your representative's office and you can leave a voice mail message. Of course, calling during business hours would be preferable, if possible.

We've written about this before, here and here.

MPP provides this sample script for you to use when you call:

"Hello, my name is ________________ and I live in ________________. I am calling to urge Representative __________________ to oppose the ODCP Reauthorization Act. I do not believe that the federal government should be spending an additional one billion dollars on the anti-drug media campaign when it is actually causing an increase in teen drug use. I will be watching to see how Representative __________________ votes on H.R. 2086. Thank you."

MPP goes on to say:

The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign has been a staggering failure. Not only is it ineffective, but it is actually leading to increased drug use among teens. The most recent PRIDE Survey, which measures youth illegal drug use and was released on September 3, reported a dramatic (51%) rise in past-month marijuana use among junior high students and a slight increase in past-month marijuana use by senior high students. More distressingly, the PRIDE Survey also reported similar increases in past-month cocaine and heroin use among all students surveyed (up 40% and 50%, respectively).

Until our government is prepared to produce serious ads that provide
honest information about harm reduction, this media campaign must be
ended. Thank you for taking action to help accomplish this goal.

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