Another problem with the slogan was how it fit
into the government’s total strategic antidrug pack-
age. A slogan has little to do with actual drug use and
curtailment, and something must be done to curb
use along with the catchphrase. Regarding imple-
mentation of antidrug efforts, in the 1980’s a multi-
tude of blue ribbon panels and study groups were
convened, but no large bureaucratic entity ever
emerged as the obvious go-to-group for spearhead-
ing antidrug efforts. The military resisted being the
soldiers in this particular “war,” and they more or
less succeeded in staying out of the fracas. That left
local police forces and covert government groups
such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to
tackle the problem. Using groups steeped in secrecy
to combat drugs comes with a host of problems, but
local policing was used to similar ill effect, present-
ing no panacea to the drug problem. What many
thought to be overly tough mandatory minimum
sentencing laws thwarted the best efforts of police
and judges, who deemed them too harsh for first-
time offenders. The result was decision making by
judges and police officers who did their best to coun-
teract antidrug laws seen in professional circles as
being political rather than effective.
In Washington, D.C., the nail in the coffin of the
Just Say No campaign was the widely held perception
that it was political grandstanding more than sound
policy. Whether or not that assertion is true, statistics
indicate that drug use during the 1980’s did not de-
cline, and the slogan that turned into a popular cul-
ture punch line has not been judged kindly by his-
tory.Impact The Just Say No slogan has been statistically
shown to have had little to no impact on illegal drug
use during the 1980’s. Its use was part of a broader
Reagan administration strategy of targeting drugThe Eighties in America Just Say No campaign 559
Nancy Reagan appears flanked by kids sporting “Just say no” shirts in 1988.(Hulton Archive/Getty Images)