House Democrats Trim Funding For Bush-sponsored Anti-drug Program

In February, President Bush asked for a 31 percent jump in funding for the National Youth Anti-drug Media Campaign, an advertising campaign that government-funded research has shown to be at best ineffective and at worst has increased drug use among some teens.

Instead of an increase, House Democrats proposed today to cut the program’s budget from the previous year. The White House proposal would have increased the budget to $130 million over the next year. The House plan, marked up by Rep. Jose E. Serrano’s appropriations subcommittee, knocks $5 million off last year’s budget, bringing it down to $94 million.