RWJF - President's Message 2000

Please click graphic to enlarge

    Public Service Announcements (PSAs) are improving as we become increasingly adept at drawing on the tools of Madison Avenue for a burgeoning social marketing campaign. Additionally, a number of efforts are moving beyond trying to place PSAs for free and are purchasing air time to ensure their spots run in the best time slots. The American Legacy Foundation, which was funded out of the tobacco settlement, is boosting this effort. Public attitudes are changing. Thirteen years ago we had a smoke-filled board room at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and no one thought much about it. Today we expect smoke-free workplaces and public spaces. The longtime public image of the tobacco industry as invincible has collapsed in the wake of successful lawsuits. Also, the FDA initiative has put the industry on the defensive like never before. And the focus on smoking as a pediatric disease has given the issue greater resonance and urgency for many people.
    The dangers of youth drinking have sparked successful citizen activist groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving^® and Students Against Drunk Driving. They are changing public perceptions as they are changing local laws. And, as I mentioned, drunken driving arrests and motor vehicle fatalities are declining.
    Cutting edge research, particularly in the neurosciences, is another plus. New findings about common pathways in the brain—and brain changes induced by addictive substances—have treatment and policy implications that could significantly change how we approach addicts and addiction. As Alan Leshner, PhD, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, has said, we are recognizing that addiction is also a brain disease, not simply a failure of will. Already this work has underscored the need to overcome the fragmentation in the field of substance abuse and focus more on commonalities among addictive substances.
    Epidemiological work, too, is leading us in new, more promising directions—the identification of gender differences in addiction, for example.

Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | >>