ADS SHOW BRAIN SCANS FROM DRUG USERS

WASHINGTON -- Federal officials began airing radio and television spots
Monday that show brain scans to try to convince youths of the dangers of
drugs such as Ecstasy and methamphetamines.

The ads, which will run across the USA as public service announcements, are
part of a federal effort to state the case against drugs to young people.
Previous campaigns have warned youths about how drugs can affect their
health and social lives.

The seven new ads, in English and Spanish, carry an anti-drug message
rooted in science: Addictive drugs can change the brain so rapidly that
they can take it over.

Drugs, particularly Ecstasy and methamphetamines, "hijack your brain," says
Alan Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the
campaign's sponsor. "When people say that's hyperbole, I can offer you data."

One ad shows brain scans and equates addiction with brain disease. "When
people say you're bright, they mean you've got a lot going on up there.
It's not something people who use drugs hear that much," the voiceover says.

Another emphasizes that addiction might take hold of users more quickly
than they think.

"All kids can choose not to start using drugs, but some can't choose to
stop," the teenage actors say. "Drugs change what's in your head. They take
over your mind, make you do things that make no sense."

A third commercial targets parents: "You've got to influence your kids'
thinking before drugs do."

Ecstasy and methamphetamines, which are particularly popular on college
campuses, at all-night "rave" parties and in some nightclubs, damage key
parts of the brain, says Drew Pinsky, a physician and addiction specialist
who co-hosts Loveline, an advice show aimed at youths that airs on radio
and MTV.

Pinsky says he has seen patients who are depressed, anxious, forgetful and
sleepless after several months of using Ecstasy.

"The drugs that young people are using today have profound effects on their
brain," he says.

On the institute's Web site, www.drugabuse.gov, teenagers can see how brain
scans of people who use drugs differ from those who don't use them.

"We believe that young people can make rational decisions if you give them
credible information in a non-hyperbolic way," Leshner says.

"These brain scans aren't an exaggeration. These are brain scans from Johns
Hopkins University."

NIDA spent $160,000 on the ad campaign. It includes placement of anti-drug
postcards in advertising racks at bars and nightclubs and on college campuses.

Other campaign money is being directed at grants for scientific research
into the effects of drugs.

The young actors who are in the ads say the institute's approach appealed
to them.

"I know how much influence other teens have on me," says actor John
Brinson, 14, of Philadelphia who appeared in an ad.

"If you explain to kids what's going on with their bodies instead of just
saying, 'Don't use drugs,' we're more likely to listen," he says.