Anti-Drug Effort Ineffective

One billion dollars! Let that roll around on your tongue. $120,000,000 a year isn't all that much compared to what GM or Pfizer spends, but still....

GAO: $1 Bil.+ Anti-Drug Effort Ineffective : A Government Accountability Office probe of the White House's anti-drug media campaign has found that the $1 billion-plus spent on the effort so far has not been effective in reducing teen drug use. The report recommends that Congress limit funding until the Office of National Drug Control Policy “provides credible evidence of a media campaign approach that effectively prevents and curtails youth drug use.”

The report comes at a time when Congress is poised to take up the anti-drug media campaign budget when it returns from its recess. The campaign's current budget is $99 million, the lowest since the effort began in 1998. ONDCP has asked for $120 million next year. The Senate agrees with that amount, but the House has recommended $100,000.

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ONDCP has been in a no-win situation since the GAO probe began, which followed the convictions of two top agency officials for overbilling the government on the campaign. As one observer put it at the time the probe was launched, “If the GAO finds that Westat is a piece of crap, then ONDCP has wasted $42 million. If the report says Westat has somehow found the holy grail of advertising cause and effect, then the campaign is not working by that measure.”

Funded in part by Bacardi and Anheuser-Busch.

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