David's Message about Youth Anti-Drug Propaganda

Dear Senator Dianne Feinstein,

As your constituent, I'm writing to urge you to eliminate funding for the ineffective, expensive, and harmful National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign when you consider the Financial Services appropriations bill. Government-funded studies have repeatedly shown that these expensive "anti-drug" ads actually cause more - not less - teen drug use! It's no surprise that teens react negatively to the ads, which ridiculously claim that using marijuana causes people to shoot their friends in the face, get their fist stuck in their mouth, get pregnant, and even support terrorism. The federal government has already wasted more than $1.5 billion on the harmful and offensive ad campaign since 1998. Please follow the recommendations of the National Taxpayers Union, the 100-member House Republican Study Committee, and Citizens Against Government Waste and eliminate the ads so that no more taxpayer money is wasted on this expensive boondoggle. Even the White House Office of Management and Budget said the program is "not performing," giving it a score of just 6 percent out of 100 for results and accountability. Nonetheless, the president has requested that another $130 million of taxpayers' money be thrown at the ads next year. Please don't allow this harmful waste to go on any longer.

A few weeks ago the bipartisan committee that audited the books for the War on Drugs budget wanted to know where the money was that was raised. I 'd like to know as well. And having been a drug researcher for a Federal program during the Nixon era, after our $33 million study was done, and shelved (Nixon didn't like the conclusion) I know the government lies about the drugs. Horrible mistake. The Freedom of Information Act published the study in the Nation a few months ago - 30 years after the fact! The stupid propaganda needs to stop because now even half the medical community believes it. That spells disaster. Tell the TRUTH or shut up. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on whether or not the government should keep spending taxpayers' money on a program that gets failing evaluations year after year.

--David Bergman

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