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03/11/2003: "MPP Challenges Drug Czar on New Anti-Marijuana Ads"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MARCH 8, 2023

MPP Challenges Drug Czar on New Anti-Marijuana Ads

Will Run Contrasting Newspaper Ad;
Satellite News Feed Available March 10

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP Director of Communications
202-462-5747 x113 or 202-215-4205 (cell)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is aggressively
challenging a new newspaper ad being run by the office of White House
"Drug Czar" John Walters in 300 U.S. newspapers March 10. MPP will run
a contrasting ad in selected papers and is also making available a
video news release in which MPP Executive Director Robert Kampia
discusses the misleading and dishonest nature of Walters' anti-
marijuana advertising blitz.

"The drug czar's ads aren't about educating teens; they're about
frightening parents into keeping marijuana illegal and avoiding the
real issue. The real issue is that marijuana is bad for kids, but
marijuana prohibition is worse," Kampia said.

"John Walters pours millions of dollars of taxpayer money --
$150 million in the new fiscal year -- into deceptive anti-marijuana
ads that we know aren't working and may actually be doing harm." The
government-funded independent evaluation of the campaign, conducted by
the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication,
found "there is no evidence yet consistent with a desirable effect of
the Campaign on youth." More disturbing, the long-term evaluation of
the teens who most frequently saw the early ads found that they had
more "pro-drug" beliefs than teens who saw the commercials less often.

"It doesn't surprise anyone that the drug czar's ads aren't
working," Kampia continued. "Kids are laughing at these ads -- they
know when they're being lied to. A campaign of obvious lies and
distortions doesn't discourage kids from trying marijuana and
sabotages efforts to educate them about the life-threatening risks of
speed or crack.

"The drug czar's latest ad takes scary-sounding information out of
context, ignores conflicting data, and blurs the lines between common
marijuana effects and extremely rare ones. This ad is a disservice to
parents, who need complete, honest information."

For MPP's response ad, please see http://www.mpp.org/ad.html. A
satellite feed featuring sound bites from Robert Kampia and marijuana
arrest B-roll footage will be available Monday, March 10, from 2:30 -
2:45 p.m. Eastern and again from 3:15 - 3:30 p.m. Eastern. Satellite
coordinates are KU Analog: SBS 6, Transponder 5, downlink frequency
11823 Horizontal. Audio is on 6.2 and 6.8. For technical assistance,
call The Washington Bureau at 202-347-6396.

The independent evaluation of the drug czar's ads is available at
http://www.nida.nih.gov/DESPR/Westat/Westat2003/ExecSum.PDF.

With 11,000 members nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project 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.

Related Resources

Marijuana Policy Project - http://www.mpp.org