A House Subcommittee today approved legislation that contains provisions authorizing drug czar John Walters to spend taxpayer money on television ads to influence voters to reject drug policy reforms. If enacted, these provisions will allow the government to use your hard-earned money to tell you what to think. Drug Czar John Walters could use the provision to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars every year to stop sensible drug policy reforms around the country.

The House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources approved the provision as part of HR 2086, the "Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2003." The provision authorizing anti-reform propaganda is buried within the section renewing the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, a controversial ad campaign that cost taxpayers over a billion dollars in the last six years, despite numerous government studies showing it has failed to meet its intended goals of reducing drug use. If approved by the full Congress, Drug Czar John Walters would be able to spend almost a billion dollars over the next five years on the failed media campaign, including ads telling voters to oppose drug policy reform.

The Drug Policy Alliance is urging Members of Congress to cancel the expensive ad campaign and spend the money on drug treatment, after-school programs and other prevention programs that cost less and are proven to work. At a minimum, say experts at the Alliance, the anti-taxpayer provision should be taken out and the media campaign should only be approved for one year instead of five.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has found that the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign not only fails to reduce drug use, but also may make youth more likely to use marijuana in the future. According to NIDA, the ads may give youth the perception that drug use is common among their peers; and may also trigger what psychologists call "reactance" - the more someone is told what not to do, the more they want to do it. Other experts believe the ads are so ridiculous and over-the-top that young people dismiss them outright, assuming they’re being lied to.

The Drug Policy Alliance has been challenging the ad campaign for years, arguing the money could be better spent on drug treatment or other programs. Most recently, the Alliance led a national campaign to stop the White House’s ridiculous "drugs and terror" ads which compared non-violent marijuana smokers to terrorists. The Alliance took out a full-page ad in Roll Call (a newspaper that every politician in Washington, D.C reads), hosted a groundbreaking "drugs and terrorism" forum broadcasted on C-SPAN, and criticized the ads in newspapers, on radio shows, and on TV. Drug Czar John Walters canceled the "drugs and terror" ad campaign earlier this year and the ads are expected to stop running by the end of the year.