1 Trends in annual prevalence of drug use from the Monitoring the Future Study are reported here. The numbers for lifetime use are slightly higher but follow a similar pattern; those for 30-day use and daily use are lower.

2 While there is no accurate count of the number of people who currently serve as mentors, the number is clearly much lower than the stated national goal. At the President's Summit For The Future Of America held in April, 1997 in Philadelphia, it was determined that America should strive to have two million people involved as mentors by the year 2000. Currently, Big Brother/Big Sisters, which is the Nation's largest organization of mentoring programs, has about 100,000 mentors.

3 In addition to the communication objectives listed, one additional objective is under consideration, pending audience research:

To encourage audience members to state publicly (to parents, siblings, and peers) their intentions not to use drugs.

Encouraging trial behavior is a reliable way of facilitating both consumer and health behavior changes, especially when the trial leads to a positive outcome. Even though abstinence from drug use is a non-behavior, young people can nevertheless "try" the behavior by publicly stating their intentions not to use drugs. Such trials reinforce intentions to adopt the behavior (i.e., refraining from using drugs) to the extent that the behavioral trial elicits positive rewards. Parents, other youth-influential adults, and peers should be encouraged to respond positively to such proclamations.

For a variety of reasons, including lack of evidence as to its potential impact, and concern that messages executed against this objective would be rejected by target audience members, the Campaign Design Expert Panel recommended withholding the objective from the communication strategy pending further research. Evidence in support of its potential efficacy, however, would necessitate reconsideration of the objective.

4 Many recent successful interventions have incorporated normative educational elements designed to correct the misperception that most adolescents use drugs. These include the Life Skills Training program (Botvin et al., 1995a), the Adolescent Alcohol Prevention Trial (Hansen and Graham, 1991), Project SMART (Hansen et al., 1988) and Project ALERT (Ellickson & Bell, 1990).

5 Dr. Lloyd Johnston at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research recommends ten "talking points" that parents can use to persuade their children that they should not use marijuana. These points are especially pertinent for parents who used marijuana themselves in their youth and are concerned that their children will think their anti-drug admonitions are hypocritical.

• We all make mistakes. "We all make some bad judgements when we are kids, and just because I made some mistakes doesn't mean that it's a good idea for you to repeat them."

• If we knew then what is known now. "We didn't know nearly as much about the consequences of using marijuana and other drugs then when we were teenagers; and if we had known then what we know now we might/would have made quite different decisions."

• It's a different drug now. "The marijuana today is a lot stronger than what people were smoking in the sixties and early seventies. The same is true for cocaine and heroin, both of which are dramatically more potent today."

• The dangers associated with moving to other drugs are greater now. Nearly all young people who use any of the other illicit drugs, or so called "hard drugs," begin by using marijuana. But the danger associated with progressing to these other drugs is greater today than it used to be. There are more dangerous drugs around now, like crack, ice, PCP, and Rohypnol. Moreover, some of the old drugs -- in particular heroin and cocaine -- are more dangerous now because they are much more pure, which makes both addiction and overdose deaths more probable.

• People start using younger today. In the earlier years of the drug epidemic most people who tried marijuana or other drugs began when they were in their twenties, and subsequently when they were in their late teens. People who use today may begin when they are in their early teens or even younger. We know that those who start younger get into considerably more trouble with their eventual drug use, and they also tend to end up having more of the other problems associated with drug use.

• The world is a more dangerous place than it used to be. Young people today face more serious hazards in their larger environment than young people did just a generation ago. Today, young people can be exposed to AIDS, a deadly disease, as well as a number of other serious sexually transmitted diseases like herpes and genital warts that were far less common then. Violence levels also are higher, including sexual assault. Having impaired judgement and awareness, as occurs with the use of drugs, is simply more risky in these dangerous times.

• Adolescence is an important period of physical development. Early adolescence is a time when a lot of physical growth is still taking place, so whatever effects the various drugs may have -- and we don't yet now what all of them are by any means -- may be magnified during this vulnerable stage of physical maturation.

• Adolescence is an important period of social and emotional development. During adolescence youngsters are doing a lot of very important social and psychological maturation. They are deciding who they are as individuals, differentiating themselves from their parents and others, developing plans and aspirations in their lives, learning to get along with others and form friendships, and learning to get along with the opposite sex and to be comfortable and confident in their own sexual identity. They are also trying to perform well academically so they will be able to reach some of their long-term goals, such as being admitted to college, performing well in college, and getting a good job. These are important tasks in this stage in life, and being high much of the time is detrimental to completing these tasks. These tasks can also be anxiety provoking, and drugs are often used to escape the anxiety and the tasks, leaving some of the important work of adolescence undone.

  Drugs can rob youngsters of energy and the ability to concentrate and perform. They can lead to a decline of interest in constructive activities and other interests. It's a high price to pay.

• There are known adverse physical consequences. There are many physical consequences already known to be associated with drugs, and we are learning about more of them every day.

• Addiction means loss of control. We all want to remain in control of our own lives to a considerable degree -- adolescents in particular. Becoming dependent on a drug means loss of control over the use of that drug, which in turn can lead to a loss of control over a lot of other aspects of your life. It often leads to stealing from the people most important to you -- your family and friends -- and chronically lying to them. It can make you feel very badly about yourself.

7 Parental horror of drug use might actually discourage some teens from having open discussions with their parents on the topic of marijuana (PDFA, 1994b).

8 These suggestions are based on recommendations in Teenage Research Unlimited's Teenage Marketing & Lifestyle Study (based on survey responses from 2,043 youth ages 12-19) and the 1996 Sports Illustrated For Kids Omnibus Study (based on survey responses of 625 youth ages 9 to 13).

9 This recommendation is based on PDFA creative briefing documents, 1997.