HBO and Robert Wood Johnson to Produce Video Drug Education Series

DRUG EDUCATION March 1995

Home Box Office (HBO) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have teamed up to develop a three-part video series that seeks to educate kids and teenagers about the dangers of drugs ("HBO Producing Video Cassettes Targeting Teenage Drug Use with Johnson Foundation Funding," Drugs and Drug Abuse Education, Oct. 1994).

HBO Spokesperson Jim Noonan spoke with NewsBriefs and said that the project is still in the very early pre-production stages. Producers are still unclear about the content, focus, and approach of the drug education messages they will include in the videos. The project is being funded through a $3 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Before the video series is released, HBO will launch an awareness campaign that will include messages on the HBO cable station and education packets for teachers and parents. The video series and a discussion guide will be distributed free to all junior, middle, and high schools, local libraries, and community anti-drug organizations.

The series will also be broadcast to all homes with cable television, including those that do not subscribe to HBO. Time Warner, HBO's parent company, plans to air the videos on the closed circuit television system in their Six Flags amusement parks.

[For more information contact Richard Plepler of HBO at 212-512-1960 or Marc Kaplan of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation at 609-243-5937.]