1972 Washington Redskins Led Sweep of Anti-Drug Public Service Campaign

I became a Diversion Investigator with the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) in 1986, but it only recently dawned on me that my relationship with the agency actually began as a ninth grader about 14 years earlier.  In 1972, DEA’s predecessor, the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (“BNDD”), produced and distributed a series of public service posters warning against drug misuse and abuse.  The posters featured individual Washington Redskin players.  Each poster provided an antidrug message purportedly made by the player associated with the position they played on the football field.  Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Sonny Jurgensen advised “In a drug situation-pass.”  Linebacker Chris Hanburger, also in the Hall of Fame, warned “Don’t get trapped-dodge the drug crowd.”  And Walt Rock, who had the perfect moniker for an offensive lineman, urged “Hold the line against drugs.”

BNDD distributed the posters to intermediate and high school students, and I received a couple of them.  BNDD produced about 20 different posters, all of them featuring Washington Redskins.  The posters featured antidrug messages from Coach George Allen (It takes a team effort to win against drugs”), Hall of Famer Charley Taylor (“Be ready to outrun the drug tackle”), Jerry Smith (“Get your point across without drugs”), and defensive players Ron McDole (“Push drugs aside-they’re for losers”), Brig Owens (Win the race against drugs”), and Pat Fischer (Stand firm-don’t yield to drugs).

Over fifty years later I stumbled upon the complete set of the posters rolled up and stashed in a box.  Finding the posters reminded me of some of the other memorable anti-drug public service ads and campaigns over the years.  Those of a certain age recall First Lady Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” to drugs campaign in the 1980s.  And in a 1987 commercial produced by the Partnership for a Drug Free America, an actor asserted “This is your brain.  This is drugs.  This is your brain on drugs.”  The camera panned to eggs frying in a skillet, and then asked “Any questions?”  And a colleague reminded me that the “your brain on drugs” commercial was revived in the ‘90s and hosted by Rachel Leigh Cook.

The BNDD/Washington Redskin posters were among the first antidrug campaigns featuring professional athletes.  BNDD merged and became DEA in July 1973.  Also in 1973 DEA produced and distributed posters featuring several players from each NFL team, and those posters bore the DEA logo and NFL shield.  The Redskins are now the Commanders.  1972 proved to be a good year for the Redskins with the team the NFC champion at season’s end, losing to the perfect Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VII, 14-7.

And what did my favorite Redskin?  Running back Larry Brown urged “Find the way to your goal without drugs.”