This document serves two important purposes. It provides an overview of the communication strategy for the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. As such, it will guide the efforts of campaign planners and stakeholders. Of equal or greater importance, this document can provide direction to the communication activities of a wide range of other individuals and organizations that share ONDCP's goal of encouraging youth to reject the use of drugs.

The drug-related communication environment is remarkably active and diverse. Although there is heightened concern in the media about the adolescent drug use epidemic, popular culture still tends to normalize drug use, and active debates are currently raging on a full range of issues, from the medical use of marijuana to the provision of drug-treatment programs in our Nation's prisons. The fractious nature of this communication environment can, in some instances, cause confusion and inaction. This can be true even for issues, such as preventing adolescent drug use, on which there is broad societal consensus regarding the need to take action.

To reverse the adolescent drug use epidemic in America, our Nation's youth, parents, and other people who touch the lives of youth must hear consistent, clear, compelling, and truthful messages about the reality and true costs of using drugs and the benefits of living drug free. The impact of drug prevention messages and activities offered in communities across America will be enhanced to the extent that the messages are informed by proven strategies and communicated by many voices. The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign will be one of those voices; through coordination with community-based organizations, professional associations, the entertainment industry, and the media, those voices will resonate.