National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign

The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign is a current US government health education campaign by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) within the Executive Office of the President of the United States with the goal to "influence the attitudes of the public and the news media with respect to drug abuse" and of "reducing and preventing drug abuse among young people in the United States".

[6] These activities subsequently funded by the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act of 1998,[7] formally creating the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign.

[9] In August 2001, the office told a Congressional committee that its National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign "has been the most visible symbol of the federal government's commitment to drug prevention," and that the office was "investing $7 million a year in performance measurement to determine the effectiveness" of the campaign.

The statement said "We believe there is a strong body of evidence that indicates the campaign is working, as planned, to change drug attitudes, intentions and use.

[14] Even though the advertisements themselves were only as specific as to address use of marijuana, the NSPY measurements reported alcohol consumption, binge drinking, cigarette use, and use of marijuana/hashish.

The assessment consisted of multiple rounds of strategic questioning between years 2000 and 2004 to determine youths exposure to the advertisements, and behavioral patterns in relation to marijuana use.

Since older brothers and sisters were more interested in using marijuana after seeing the ads, the campaign had an indirect effect on younger siblings as well.

[18] According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the institution that administered the campaign, the next initiative was overall successful.

[19] The campaign launched a result-tracking initiative to comprise the Annual Analysis Report to Congress, as required by the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006.