Medford, Ore.– If it’s popular on Pandora or Youtube, you may have seen a new campaign against marijuana and alcohol.
They’re targeting youth specifically in Jackson County. You’ll see the three ads on Youtube, Pandora, and or on T.V.
The two focusing on marijuana show 75% of 11th graders in the county don’t use marijuana, and 90% of 8th graders don’t either.Phoenix High school Freshmen, Carlos Camacho noticed them.
“I was surprised I never heard this before it made me think about it.”
For the first time Jackson County Health and Human services is using the campaign on social media and it’s one of a kind in the state.
“Our goal is to really put the facts out that not all youth in Jackson County are using marijuana or engaging in risky behavior.”
Tanya Phillips is the Health Promotion Manager for Jackson County Health and Human Services she said the statistics for the ads come from the Oregon Health Authority.
“So we really have that full spectrum of implementing that information decimination to the public.”
Jackson County Sheriff’s Detective Scott Waldon who is also the department’s Drug Recognition Evaluator said there is a lot of under age marijuana and alcohol use in the county.
“Any education is good education whether it’s from health and human services, whether it comes from law enforcement.”
Mark Turay a father of two agrees.
“I think it’s terrific that they’re trying to downplay the use of drugs. We’ve already started talking to both our boys about drugs and alcohol in a very generic level.”
The $40,000 campaign is paid for with a state grant which comes from lottery revenue.The campaign guides you to a federal government website, ‘It’sNotPopular.Org.’
Phillips said Josephine County uses a similar campaign. And that in June we’ll be seeing a new campaign in Jackson County against gambling.
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