NORML Foundation Litigation Director Tom Dean, Esq., filed a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, on NORML’s behalf on February 17, against the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and television networks for their participation in a program where the ONDCP would offer additional advertising dollars if network programs had anti-drug messages embedded in their programming.
The complaint asks the FCC to sanction the ONDCP and the networks involved for their continued violations of the anti-payola law set forth in the Federal Communications Act.
This week, the ONDCP responded to a January Freedom of Information Act request, seeking all pertinent information about the program, by sending hundreds of documents pertaining to the program and its intent.
A booklet titled, “The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign – Communication Strategy Statement” published by the ONDCP stated, “The communication objectives of the campaign should focus on altering those mediating variables (including knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors) that are known to have significant impact on adolescent drug use.”
“The stated purpose of this propaganda campaign is to control the very things that make society free,” Dean said. “The fact that this program is carried out secretly, by tampering with the content of popular television programs, underscores the federal governments complete lack of respect for the law and citizens’ right to self-determination.”
For more information, please contact Tom Dean, NORML Foundation Litigation Director at (202) 483-8751. To view NORML’s complaint to the FCC, along with informative supplemental information regarding the ONDCP program, please visit http://norml.org/news/fcc_complaint.
