NCJ Number
179711
Date Published
1999
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This video examines the role the media can play in getting anti-drug messages to young people.
Abstract
The video features discussions of empowering youth by providing them the tools necessary to keep them drug-free. The discussions and several film clips focus on using the media to present positive messages and images of healthy and productive lifestyles that do not involve drugs. The speakers also discuss teaching young people to understand the subtle and not-so-subtle messages in films and on television, which frequently glamorize the use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. The Office of National Drug Control Policy has initiated a campaign to present pro-health messages in the media, messages created with the participation of youth from the intended audience. Media presentations of the tobacco industry as manipulative and condescending toward young people have resulted in a decline in smoking among that population. Using the media to exert its powerful energies in promoting positive messages could go far toward influencing youth not to become involved in drugs. The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign hopes to educate youth about the dangers of drugs, furnish them with tactics and strategies to resist drug involvement, and also show parents how to help their kids in their efforts to stay drug-free. The second part of the teleconference featured questions from callers across the country.