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Episode 174: Your Favorite 1990's "Very Special" Anti-Drug Episode Was Probably Funded by the US Government

Added 2023-01-25 16:57:16 +0000 UTC

On a Very Special Episode of "Home Improvement," Tim and Jill lecture their son about the dangers of marijuana after he’s caught smoking a joint. On a powerful episode of ABC’s "Sports Night," written by Aaron Sorkin, sportscaster Dan Rydell delivers a four-minute monologue on how dope killed his younger brother. On a devastating episode of CBS's "Chicago Hope," a dozen teenagers are rushed to the emergency room after taking a new psychedelic drug at a rave.

We’ve all seen these "Very Special" drug episodes throughout our childhoods and adolescence. For some reason, our favorite shows, seemingly out of nowhere, decided to dedicate an entire episode to the perils of teenage drug use.

These episodes, mostly from the 1980s and '90s, have become a cultural punchline, something amusing and mocked but ultimately, one would think, harmless. But what most viewers don't know is that many of these episodes were not just part of a teen-oriented convention turned TV trope; a number of them were actually funded by the federal government to the tune of hundreds of thousands––sometimes millions–– of dollars to promote so-called "drug awareness."

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in the late 1990s made a deal with multiple TV networks to include anti-drug messaging in show plots. In 1997, Congress approved a plan to buy $1 billion of anti-drug advertising over five years for its National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign.

From at least 1997 to 2000, the Feds paid TV networks to air what was ostensibly drug awareness public health information but was, in many key ways, propaganda to sustain and build support for the war on drugs. The White House drug office paid networks large sums of money to weave so-called "anti-drug" stories in their narratives, undisclosed to the viewer, often revising and approving scripts without the show writers knowledge.

Rather than being harmless––if corny––anti-drug messages we can all now laugh at, these narratives were also part of a broader scare strategy to frighten, misinform, and prop up the federal government's war on drugs both at home and abroad.

On this episode, we will review some of the major TV shows that ran these episodes, how much money they took in from the U.S. government, and how these tropes shaped and directly impacted public policy that promoted racism, imperial meddling in Latin America, and mass incarceration.

Our guest is Kassandra Frederique, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance.

Guest

Kassandra Frederique (@Kassandra_Fred) is the Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance and cofounder of the Black Harm Reduction Network.

Show Notes

Prime-time propaganda

Daniel Forbes | January 13, 2000 | Salon

U.S. Screens TV Episodes For Drug War

Marc Lacey and Bill Carter | January 14, 2000 | The New York Times / Chicago Tribune

In the ‘90s the U.S. Government Paid TV Networks to Weave “Anti-Drug” Messaging Into Their Plot Lines. Here Are the Worst Examples.

Gabe Levine-Drizin | December 27, 2021 | The Column

Pop Culture’s Obsession with Addiction

Jake Samieske | August 31, 2021 | Drug Policy Alliance

Kicking the Hollywood Habit: Addiction Morality Tales in Film and TV

Adam Johnson, Nima Shirazi and Zach Siegel | July 7, 2021 | Citations Needed

The Top 10 Very Special Episodes of the 1980s

February 8, 2021 | Last Movie Outpost

After 50 Years Of The War On Drugs, 'What Good Is It Doing For Us?'

Brian Mann | June 17, 2021 | NPR

How TV Dramas Informed And Misinformed Perceptions Of The War On Drugs

Eric Deggans | June 18, 2021 | NPR All Things Considered

The Great Marketing Deregulation

Jamie Logie | July 31, 2020 | Better Marketing

From cringeworthy to scary: a history of anti-drug PSAs

Peter Balonon-Rosen | March 26, 2019 | Marketplace

‘Dragnet’ was straight up LAPD propaganda, on national TV for years

Jacqui Shine | June 20, 2017 | Timeline

Legalize It All: How to Win the War on Drugs

Dan Baum | April 2016 | Harper's

The Most Notorious Anti-Drug TV Specials And Very Special Episodes

Tyler Coates | April 20, 2015 | Decider

How the war on drugs made raves more dangerous

German Lopez | February 23, 2015 | Vox

Whatever Happened To The Ad War On Drugs?

E.J. Schultz | March 24, 2014 | Ad Age

Great Moments In Drug War Propaganda

Radley Balko | August 26, 2013 | The Huffington Post

How The Government Wasted $1 Billion On Its Scandal-Plagued 'War Against Drugs' Ad Budget

Laura Stampler | December 22, 2011 | Insider

Study Faults White House Anti-Drug Ads

Ira Teinowitz | January 19, 2004 | Ad Age

Saying no to propaganda

Janelle Brown | March 12, 2002 | Salon

The “Just Say No to Drugs” Campaign Had Its Roots in Anti-Communist Propaganda

Michael Grasso | January 4, 2022 | Jacobin

“I Learned it by Watching YOU !” The Partnership for a Drug-Free America and the Attack on ‘Responsible Use’ Education in the 1980s

Joseph Moreau | February 2016 | Journal of Social History

Media Narratives and Drug Prohibition: A Content Analysis of Themes and Strategies Promoted in Network News Coverage, 2000-2013

Maria M. Orsini | May 2015 | Marshall University

The Effect of Marijuana Scenes in Anti-marijuana Public Service Announcements on Adolescents’ Evaluation of Ad Effectiveness

Yahui Kang, Joseph N. Cappella, and Martin Fishbein | September 2009 | Health Commun

Effects of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign on Youths

Robert Hornik, PhD, Lela Jacobsohn, PhD, et al. | December 2008 | American Journal of Public Health

ONDCP Media Campaign: Contractor's National Evaluation Did Not Find that the Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign Was Effective in Reducing Youth Drug Use

August 25, 2006 | U.S. Government Accountability Office

The Dragnet Effect: How TV Has Obscured Police Brutality

Conor Friedersdorf | June 12, 2015 | The Atlantic

Reefer Madness! The Twisted History of America’s Marijuana Laws

Matthew Green | January 5, 2018 | KQED

Colombia’s Truth Commission Is Highly Critical of U.S. Policy

Julie Turkewitz and Genevieve Glatsky | June 28, 2022 | The New York Times

Cables Contain Claims Former Colombian Leader Is Tied to Drug Traffickers

Nicholas Casey | May 25, 2018 | The New York Times

Clinton to Offer Aid in Colombia Drug War

Elizabeth Becker | January 11, 2000 | The New York Times

The Drug War Industrial Complex

Noam Chomsky interviewed by John Veit | April 1998 | High Times

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Transcript

For a full transcript of this episode, go here.

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