‘Just Say No’ - Remembering the past & calling for leadership on drug policy

by Wyoming Liberty Group

"Just say no."

Remember that?

Or how about this one: "This is your brain on drugs."

Once upon a time, decades ago, these were famous taglines for major national campaigns to discourage people—children, in particular—from using illicit drugs. And those ads stuck—people remembered the campaigns because they were effective, and there was leadership backing them up.

That's what we need now more than ever—especially at a time when both major party candidates for the president of the United States called for the legalization of marijuana—a first. That mind-altering drug remains illegal in Wyoming, where for years we have fought assiduously to keep out the hazardous substance. In short, we need leadership and we need an education campaign to combat the worst drug crisis in American history when tens of thousands of people have perished every year from the scourge of drug addiction.

For those who are too young to remember, "Just Say No" was the catchphrase of an advertising campaign back in the 1980s and 1990s to ward children away from falling into the clutches of drugs. Then First Lady Nancy Reagan championed the slogan—and the cause—during her husband Ronald Reagan's presidency.

Meanwhile, "This Is Your Brain on Drugs" was another campaign in the 1980s, spearheaded by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. They aired a few public service announcements on television that became seared into the public consciousness. One of the 30-second spots featured a man in a kitchen who holds an egg and remarks, "This is your brain." Then he gestures at a frying pan and says, "This is drugs." Then he fries the egg and says: "This is your brain on drugs." The ad ends with a flourish when he looks into the camera and asks, "Any questions?"

There weren't. The viewer got the message. Today, there is no message. And there's a dearth of leadership stating the obvious, namely that drugs are hazardous. Just stating as much can make a difference.

"Understanding what drugs can do to your children, understanding peer pressure and understanding why they turn to drugs is ... the first step in solving the problem," said Nancy Reagan in the early 1980s.

It seems like such an obvious point—and such an obvious message, and yet today's discourse is dominated by the other side, the folks who want to legalize all drugs under the banner of such phraseology as "body autonomy," the idea of letting people do whatever they want with their bodies. And "harm reduction," an idea pushed by these same folks who argue that the way to reduce harm is by letting people do whatever they want—under supervision.

But there is another way. And that's to help people who need help with drug addiction. It's called treatment. As experts in the field have often said, there is little to no choice for the individual who is in the clutches of a harmful drug. That's why it's called an addiction.

Advertising executives understood this back in the 1980s when they invented the "Just Say No" slogan. And Nancy Reagan understood this as well. According to the story, she was visiting an elementary school in Oakland, California, in 1982 when a child asked the first lady what to do if she, the little girl, was offered drugs by her friends. The first lady said: "Just say 'no.'"

It was, of course, common sense. But it was more. Nancy Reagan remarked about the campaign: "If you can save just one child, it's worth it."

She did more than that. She traveled throughout the country and across the globe, racking up over a quarter million miles conveying the message, to just say no to drugs, during various appearances on television, talk shows and through guest articles. The result was that her message helped encourage schools to create "Just Say No" groups all over the country. Children signed agreements to not use drugs.

The Girl Scouts of the United States of America and the Kiwanis Club International got involved, too. The "Just Say No" campaign was so effective that it was woven into popular consciousness, even written into scripts that aired on such popular television shows as Diff'rent Strokes. Music videos incorporated the messaging as well.

As it happened, illegal drug use dropped precipitously during Reagan's presidency, though there has been a revisiting of history that seeks to undermine the causes for that drop. Indeed, pro-drug forces have taken the proverbial hill in the absence of leadership on this issue, and they've criticized the Nancy Reagan campaign for a number of reasons, including asserting that it's a simplistic approach to a complex problem.

It is a complex problem. But we need to start somewhere, and it begins with leadership and a strong message.