WHITAKER STUDENTS VIEW NATIONAL ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN

Federal, State And Local Officials Kick Off Portland's Segment Of A $195
Million Project At The Northeast School

The new national anti-drug campaign that Stormed Whitaker Middle School's
auditorium Thursday told students what they've already heard: Drugs are bad.

But this time, there was more to it 'than a "Just Say No" slogan.

National, state and local officials started Portland's segment of the $195
million National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign before about 600 students
at the Northeast Portland school. Officials spoke to students and showed
commercials that began airing Thursday in Portland.

Students gave the commercials mixed reviews.

In fact, after the first commercial, a serious message about the effects of
heroin use, the students laughed.

Although many students were skeptical of what they saw, they thought the
campaign could be successful with one key ingredient: specifics.

"They should show people using stuff," seventh-grader Georgio Lambert said,
"and then show them in the funeral home, so kids can know how devastating
drugs are."

Among those speaking about the harm of drug use were Dennis Greenhouse, an
official with the White House National Drug Policy Office, Republican Sen.
Gordon Smith; Democratic Reps. Elizabeth Furse and Darlene Hooley: Portland
Mayor Vera Katz; Portland Police Chief Charles Moose; and Whitaker
eighth-grader Shauncey Mashia.

Students viewed four of 17 commercials prepared for the national campaign
aimed at students 9 to 17 years old in 12 cities.

In one, a woman crushes an egg with a frying pan and then wreaks havoc on
her kitchen, smashing plates and a clock while talking about how drags
destroy people and their relationships.

Others target the "average teen," telling students they don't have to take
drugs to be cool.

'There are commercials that depict what happens to you (if you use drugs),"
Greenhouse said. "Messages have a target audience in mind. A lot are
testimonial."

Seventy percent of the commercials aired in Portland target marijuana users
because that's Portland's largest problem, he said.

The other 30 percent are aimed at methamphetamine users or at adults,
urging them to be involved with their children.

Although drug use has decreased by half nationally since 1979, it's rising
among youth, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

From 1991 to 1996, illicit drug use more than doubled among eighth- and
10th-graders. Less than 6 percent of eighth-graders had used drugs within
30 days of being surveyed in 1991, compared with 16.4 percent in 1996.
Thirty-one percent of eighth-graders have used drugs in their lifetime, the
study showed.

Many Whitaker students already had decided they would never use drugs
before they saw the commercials. "They mess up your life." seventh-grader
Latoya Cunningham said.

Some said the commercials were helpful, but the message wasn't as
applicable to them as it might be to others. "The people who'll be using
drugs will probably stop," seventh-grader Josue Vicente said of the
commercial's effect. "But I don't use drugs."

Vicente and his friend Jorge Ceballos, 13, said they both had brothers who
were jailed for drug use. They said that their close experience with the
effects of drug use taught them more about drugs' harmful effects than
commercials did.

The officials talked about the opportunities wasted by drugs. "Those that
come to sell you drugs are monsters in human form," Smith said. "They will
take your life, if not your soul."

Katz emphasized four essentials of success: "Dream big dreams, stay in
school, don't use drugs and stay out of gangs."

Moose said education and encouragement are the most effective means of drug
prevention. "We can encourage each other to make good choices," he said.

Commercials are only one facet of the $195 million plan. Multiple layers of
involvement, from television to the classroom, will add depth to the
anti-drug message, depth that the "Just Say No" campaign lacked, Greenhouse
said. It will work because "there are concerned adults and organizations
that want to help the kids, something I don't think we had in-the past," he
said.

"This goes beyond 'Just Say No,'" Whitaker Principal James Brannon said.
"Hopefully it will be effective."