JUST SAY NO TO FAILED CAMPAIGN

This week the federal government finally admitted what has been evident
from teen drug-use statistics in recent years: The feds' $180
million-a-year campaign against illegal drug use is a flop. More precisely,
the program has failed to have any discernable impact on teen drug abuse
ever since the campaign abandoned the moral clarity of "Just Say No."

Sophisticates claim that today's teens are of, as the Associated Press put
it, "a generation too complex for 'Just Say No.'" Really? We'll grant that
a campaign such as that one can get stale after a while, but "Just Say No"
worked and was still working when the first Bush administration decided to
erase all things Reagan from policy, including the "Just Say No" campaign,
in the name of being "kinder and gentler."

When it comes to educating kids about dangerous, illegal drugs, however,
direct and harsh evidently works better. In a world full of moral
mushiness, kids need the clarity of "No."

Instead of wasting tens of millions more developing an entirely new
anti-drug ad campaign, the feds ought to resurrect and refresh "Just Say No."

It worked before and it just might work again on a generation of kids who
weren't even talking yet when the original campaign ended.