LOS
ANGELES, CA - John P. Walters, Director of National Drug Control Policy
(ONDCP), today unveiled a new series of new drug prevention advertisements
targeting American Indian audiences. The ads are part of the ONDCP's
National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, a five-year effort designed
to help America's youth reject illicit drugs. Developed by Albuquerque-based
G&G Advertising, an American Indian firm, the new ads promote
the positive alternatives to drug use and model parenting skills that
help keep kids drug-free. The new broadcast and print ads, and earlier
Media Campaign advertising directed toward the American Indian market,
represent a research-based effort to combat youth drug use in this
community.
"This advertising reflects extensive
research and broad input from American Indian public health experts.
Working together, we hope to protect the American Indian community
from the problems that result from illicit drug use and ensure that
parents and youth have access to drug prevention strategies and
resources," said Director Walters.
Since the Media Campaign's inception,
ONDCP has invested over $5 million in reaching American Indian audiences.
For more than two years, ONDCP has conducted formative qualitative
research to identify the attitudes and beliefs that American Indian
teens, parents and influential adults have toward drug use in their
community and prevention. The new advertising focuses on the positive
influence of elders in the American Indian community, the important
role parents can play in drug prevention, and the importance of
Indian pride in keeping kids drug-free.
Dr.
Timothy Taylor, a senior research scientist at the University of
New Mexico and an American Indian public health expert who contributed
to the research and direction of the ad campaign, noted the misrepresentations
of the American Indian culture in general media. "Much of our
research demonstrated that general media portrays American Indians
in a simplistic, often negative and critical light. The new anti-drug
advertisements are more culturally-balanced, depicting communities
and families in a way that empowers them rather than isolating them."
Dr. Taylor is a member of the Kiowa Tribe.
The Media Campaign has developed partnerships
with organizations that have on-going contact with American Indian
and Alaskan Natives including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian
Health Service and United National Indian Tribal Youth (U.N.I.T.Y.)
among others. The collaboration ensures that drug prevention resources
are widely available in Indian Country.
These resources range from essential information
about the dangers of drug addiction to access to the top
drug rehabs in California and other states.
The print and broadcast ads will appear
in targeted media outlets across the country, including 61 newspapers
on or near Reservations as well as 66 radio stations and television
outlets in 15 markets that reach American Indian parents and youth.
For more information about the Media Campaign or to see the advertising,
log onto www.mediacampaign.org,
www.theantidrug.com, or
www.freevibe.com.
Tribal
Drug Courts
There are currently more than 45
tribal courts which are in the process of planning or implementing
tribal drug courts (or Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts).
Of these 45 tribal courts, at least 14 tribal drug courts
are already operational. Tribal Drug Courts (or Tribal Healing
to Wellness Courts) are not simply tribal courts that handle
alcohol or other drug abuse cases. Tribal Healing to Wellness
Courts are tribal justice systems which incorporate and
adapt the drug court concept to meet the specific needs
of an individual community.
http://www.tribal-institute.org/lists/drug_court.htm
|
|