Texas study shows anti-drug ads don't work

[Champ]

Anti-drug ads, which the government plans to spend $145 million to produce this fiscal year, do little to dissuade young people from taking drugs, according to research conducted by Texas State University at San Marcos psychology professors.

Even worse, the ads may actually prompt some teens to experiment with drugs -- a reaction diametrically opposite that sought by the White House Office of National Drug Policy.

The study, which researchers will present Friday at a meeting of the American Psychological Society in Chicago, is part of a larger, ongoing project sponsored by the Marijuana Policy Project, a national marijuana policy reform organization.

Researchers Harvey Ginsburg and Maria Czyzewska, of the Department of Psychology at Texas State, said 53 college students were asked to watch several of the commercials and give detailed descriptions of the thoughts the ads generated.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2595607

[mopinko]

1. reefer madness-

did the same for me- "Even worse, the ads may actually prompt some teens to experiment with drugs"
thought it was hilarious, and too good to be true.

[JayS]

2. Here is another interesting study. I sent it to my Senators.

From: http://www.utexas.edu/features/archive/2004/anti_drug_ads.html

*SNIP*

However, Carson B Wagner, an assistant professor in the Department of Advertising at The University of Texas at Austin, contends that inadequate research measures are being used to evaluate the effectiveness of anti-drug ads and that more valid tests demonstrate that many anti-drug ads are having the wrong effects on teens, possibly increasing the likelihood for experimentation with drugs.

*SNIP*

“Years ago, I noticed that every time a news story was broadcast about illicit drug use among teens, a small epidemic would ensue,” says Wagner. “Logic instructs us that news programs and anti-drug ads showing drugs in a negative light should not lead people toward drugs.”

*SNIP*