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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Bob Weiner (202) 395-6618
August 1, 2000
Drug Czar's Media Campaign to Target Rave Club Drug 'Ecstasy'
White House Drug Policy Office Will Confront Surge of Dangerous Youth Party Drug with $5 Million Advertising and Public Outreach Effort
(Washington, D. C.) Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Barry R. McCaffrey announced a specially targeted advertising and public communications effort today against MDMA or "Ecstasy," a dangerous hallucinogen that is surging in popularity with young people. Last year, past-month use of the drug increased by 67 percent among twelfth-graders. Emergency room mentions of the drug nearly doubled between 1997 and 1998. According to seizure statistics compiled by DEA, seizures of MDMA have risen exponentially—from slightly more than 100 grams per quarter in FY 1995 (Q4, FY95) to an average of more than 150,000 grams for FY 1999. Most MDMA in the United States comes from the Netherlands.
McCaffrey said that beginning in mid-August, the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, operated by ONDCP, will launch a $5 million nationwide radio and Internet advertising initiative focused specifically against the use of Ecstasy. By comparison, in the concluding 1999-2000 media year, the anti-drug campaign committed $250,000 for Internet advertising targeting Ecstasy.
"This is not a safe drug. This is a powerful and destructive substance that can wreck mind and body," McCaffrey said. Ecstasy destroys serotonin-producing neurons and reduces serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in controlling mood, sleep, pain, sexual activity, and violent behavior. A study at Johns Hopkins University, conducted on primates, confirmed that MDMA causes long-lasting damage to areas of the brain critical for thought and memory. According to Dr. Alan Leshner, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), "People who take MDMA , even just a few times, will likely have long-term, perhaps permanent, problems with learning and memory."
The Media Campaign, which targets young people and their parents, will place Ecstasy radio ads in radio stations in 106 markets across the country. Internet banner ads about Ecstasy will be found on Web sites heavily visited by young people and on sites favored by adults, as well. The Campaign will also purchase key words: "Ecstasy," "MDMA," "Club Drugs" and others, on Internet search engines. When visitors ask the search engine for information using a key word, one of the Media Campaign's ecstasy banners will appear in the advertising section of the screen, encouraging visitors to get more information about ecstasy at the campaign's primary Web sites: www.theantidrug.com for adults and www.Freevibe.com for youth.
For more information about the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign visit www.mediacampaign.org. For more information about the Office of National Drug Control Policy, visit www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov.
