Marijuana Policy Project

Washington, D.C. — The White House-sponsored anti-drug advertising campaign has completely failed to reduce teen marijuana use or change adolescents' attitudes or intentions toward marijuana, a just-released independent evaluation of the campaign reports. The evaluation was commissioned by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and performed by the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and Westat, a private research firm.

In response to an earlier report with similarly disappointing conclusions, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) decided to end the independent evaluations and have future assessments of the campaign's effectiveness performed by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, which produces the commercials.

The report, "Evaluation of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, 2003 Report of Findings," declares, "There is little evidence of direct favorable Campaign effects on youth, either for the Marijuana Initiative period or for the Campaign as a whole. The trend data in marijuana use is not favorable, and for the primary target audience, 14- to 16-year-olds, past year use increased from 2000 through 2003." In a direct slap at the campaign, the report concludes, "[Y]outh who were more exposed to Campaign messages are no more likely to hold favorable beliefs or intentions about marijuana than are youth less exposed to those messages, both during the Marijuana Initiative period and over the entire course of the Campaign."

The executive summary of the evaluation is available at /pdf/Westat0104.pdf.

"This independent evaluation confirms what has been obvious for some time: The government's anti-marijuana ads are a complete failure and a staggering waste of taxpayer money," said Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. Hundreds of millions have been spent on these ads already, and Congress may soon authorize over $1 billion for the campaign over the next five years. "We urge Congress to pull the plug on this propaganda," Fox said. "At the very least, Congress must demand reinstatement of the independent evaluations. Having the Partnership for a Drug-Free America evaluate its own ad campaign is like having Halliburton audit its own federal contracts."

With nearly 14,000 members nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP works to minimize the harm associated with marijuana — both the consumption of marijuana and the laws that are intended to prohibit such use. MPP believes that the greatest harm associated with marijuana is imprisonment. To this end, MPP focuses on removing criminal penalties for marijuana use, with a particular emphasis on making marijuana medically available to seriously ill people who have the approval of their doctors. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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