Subject: *** DRUG WAR MEDIA BLITZ ***
From: jai@mantra.com (Dr. Jai Maharaj)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa,alt.news-media,
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Organization: Mantra Corporation
Approved: Jai Maharaj
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 03:04:07 UTC

drug war media blitz  

background report
by don henry
washington

august 18, 1997

introduction
   former drug policy office director william bennett and 
former new york governor mario cuomo have agreed to coordinate a 
massive anti-drug media campaign.   voa senior correspondent don 
henry reports the two men told a national audience on a-b-c 
television (sunday: "this week") they hope a combination of 
federal and private resources will fund a media blitz that will 
drive down drug use by american youth. 

text
   conservative republican william bennett urged a return to 
what he called "the days of urgency, alarm and action".  liberal 
democrat mario cuomo termed the effort to reduce drug abuse "an 
alarming failure".

at the request of a private group known as the partnership for a 
drug-free america, these two outspoken political figures will 
coordinate an advertising campaign aimed at almost saturating the
media with hard-hitting anti-drug messages by next year.

the partnership for a drug-free america consists mostly of 
advertising and communications experts who had success with a 
similar anti-drug blitz earlier this decade.

partnership spokeswoman leigh leventhal says her group --  and 
the current drug office director barry mccaffrey --  felt the 
bennett-cuomo team would be ideal to lead the new campaign. 

leigh leventhal:
      the plan is to take less than one per cent of the 
      federal anti-drug budget, which is 175 million dollars, 
      to take that money and use it to buy prime time media 
      exposure -- television as well as some print, internet 
      and radio advertising, to basically blanket this country
      with anti-drug advertising, and really try to target 
      teens in particular -- children as well and parents, but
      teens will be our major target.  we know in this country
      that advertising works, and we're very good in this 
      country at selling products,  what the partnership for a
      drug-free america is trying to do is to unsell drugs.  

she says public service anti-drug advertisements in the news and 
entertainment media have fallen off considerably from a high 
point at the start of the 1990's.

that was back when mr. bennett was finishing his tour as the 
first director of the drug policy office.  increasingly in recent
years, he has denounced what he called the lack of high-profile 
attention to the drug war by the clinton administration.

but despite that criticism, and despite his frequent clashes with
democrats in congress, mr. bennett emphasized on abc t-v that the
anti-drug campaign will not have any political shading.

william bennett:
      this isn't going to be a partisan thing we're going to 
      do. we can do something about this problem.  we did it 
      in the past.  the relapse is occurring and the most 
      serious thing is the age of onset; that is, the age at 
      which kids are getting into drugs is younger and 
      younger.  and the perceived risk is now lower. 

mr. bennett and mr. cuomo now will make the rounds of private 
industry, hoping to come up with another 175 million dollars 
worth of cash or services to match the government allocation.

general mccaffrey has testified in congress that his goal is to 
reach teenagers with at least four hard-hitting messages per week
for as long as the money lasts -- once the media blitz is under 
way. 

with the outspoken and well-connected bill bennett and mario 
cuomo leading the campaign, the partnership for a drug free 
america hopes for a successful ripple effect from the 
advertising.  spokeswoman leventhal says one goal is to get 
people talking about the destructiveness of drugs at home, in 
school, and at parks, playgrounds, and shopping malls      
 (signed)  doh/wfr      

18-aug-97 2:32 pm edt (1832 utc)  nnnn  report 5-37288
source: voice of america

Jai Maharaj
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