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Date: Monday, June 24, 1996 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: SAMHSA Press Office (301)443-8956
HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today launched Reality Check, a national public education campaign designed to counter recent increases in marijuana use by youth. Speaking at the 100th anniversary convention of the National Parent Teachers Association, Shalala said the new campaign will provide tools to help parents talk with their children about drugs and alcohol.
"In this historic year for the PTA, we have joined together to help parents send a clear anti-drug message to their children -- that drugs are illegal, dangerous and wrong. We are encouraging and helping parents to sit down with their children around the kitchen table and make it clear that they don't want them to use drugs, alcohol or tobacco," Secretary Shalala said.
The campaign is targeted in particular at improving information and communications about marijuana. Recent HHS surveys have shown, since 1991, a resurgence in use of marijuana by young people, and a decrease in perceptions that marijuana poses health dangers. The campaign also responds to market research showing that many of today's parents are uncertain about how to initiate discussions about drugs with their children.
"Reality Check is about helping young people get the information they need, and helping parents talk about a subject that can be difficult for them," Shalala said.
Messages and materials in the campaign will counter misperceptions among children and teens that marijuana is "no big deal," and that "everyone is doing it." These perceptions have grown in their popularity among young people in recent years in part because of a re-glamorization of marijuana by some in the entertainment media, pro-use messages in popular music, and a proliferation of youth-appeal products, such as T-shirts and baseball caps that promote the marijuana image.
Keeping Youth Drug Free: A Guide for Parents, Grandparents, Elders, Mentors and other Caregivers, the key ingredient of the Reality Check campaign, endorsed by the National PTA, is designed to help parents talk with their children about drug issues. The PTA will work with HHS toward the goal of distributing the guide to some 14 million parents. The campaign also includes:
Research conducted in developing this campaign show that parents are consistently identified by young people as the most important, trustworthy sources of information and guidance on substance abuse and other serious issues. Many parents are reluctant to believe that such a problem could occur in their family, at their school, or in their neighborhood. Yet research shows that the increase in youth marijuana use is similar across racial, ethnic, and demographic lines.
"Today's youth are experiencing increasing pressure to engage in substance abuse. Teens and pre-teens want to hear accurate information from their parents, and we need to help parents talk to their children about illicit drugs, especially marijuana," said Nelba Chavez, Director of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The campaign was developed by SAMHSA in partnership with other federal agencies, businesses, national and local organizations, parents and caregivers, and the media.
Keeping Youth Drug Free: A Guide for Parents, Grandparents, Elders, Mentors, and other Caregivers provides the latest information about substance abuse and suggests ways for parents to begin a "kitchen table discussion" with youth about marijuana and other drugs. By calling the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information, at 1-800-729-6686, the public can order a free copy of Keeping Youth Drug Free, and other educational materials, or by going on-line to the clearinghouse web site at www.health.org/reality, the guide can be directly downloaded and duplicated.