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Do not fill this in! === Just Say No === {{Main|Just Say No}} The first lady launched the "Just Say No" drug awareness campaign in 1982, which was her primary project and major initiative as first lady.<ref name="First Lady Nancy Reagan" /> Reagan first became aware of the need to educate young people about drugs during a 1980 campaign stop in [[Daytop]] village, New York.<ref name="Just Say No">{{cite web|url=http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/nancy/just_say_no.asp |title= Mrs. Reagan's Crusade |access-date=March 8, 2007 |publisher= Ronald Reagan Foundation|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070812171917/http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/nancy/just_say_no.asp |archive-date = August 12, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> She remarked in 1981 that "Understanding what drugs can do to your children, understanding peer pressure and understanding why they turn to drugs is ... the first step in solving the problem."<ref name="Just Say No" /> Her campaign focused on drug education and informing the youth of the danger of drug abuse.<ref name="Just Say No" /> [[File:Nancy Reagan Speaking at a "Just Say No" Rally in Los Angeles California.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Reagan gives a speech at a "[[Just Say No]]" to drugs rally in Los Angeles, 1987]] In 1982, Reagan was asked by a schoolgirl what to do when offered [[recreational drug use|drugs]]; Reagan responded: "Just say no."<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1989/010489a.htm|title= Remarks at the Nancy Reagan Drug Abuse Center Benefit Dinner in Los Angeles|access-date= October 3, 2007|publisher= Ronald Reagan Foundation|date= January 4, 1989|quote= ... in Oakland where a schoolchild in an audience Nancy was addressing stood up and asked what she and her friends should say when someone offered them drugs. And Nancy said, "Just say no." And within a few months thousands of Just Say No clubs had sprung up in schools around the country.|archive-date= March 5, 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160305201900/https://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1989/010489a.htm|url-status= dead}}</ref><ref>Loizeau, Pierre-Marie. ''Nancy Reagan: The Woman Behind the Man'' (1984). Nova Publishers, pp. 104β105.</ref> The phrase proliferated in the popular culture of the 1980s, and was eventually adopted as the name of club organizations and school anti-drug programs.<ref name="First Lady Nancy Reagan" /> Reagan became actively involved by traveling more than {{convert|250000|mi|km}} throughout the United States and several nations, visiting drug abuse prevention programs and [[drug rehabilitation]] centers. She also appeared on television talk shows, recorded public service announcements, and wrote guest articles.<ref name="First Lady Nancy Reagan" /> She appeared in an episode of the sitcom ''[[Diff'rent Strokes]]'' to underscore support for the "Just Say No" campaign, and in a rock music video, "[[Stop the Madness]]" (1985).<ref>{{cite video |people= Brian L. Dyak (Executive Producer), William N. Utz (Executive Producer)|date=December 11, 1985|title= Stop the Madness|medium=Music Video|publisher= E.I.C.|location=Hollywood and The White House, Washington, D.C.|time=3:15}}</ref> In 1985, Reagan expanded the campaign to an international level by inviting the [[First Lady|First Ladies]] of various nations to the White House for a conference on drug abuse.<ref name="First Lady Nancy Reagan" /> On October 27, 1986, President Reagan signed a drug enforcement bill into law, which granted $1.7 billion in funding to fight the perceived crisis and ensured a [[Mandatory sentencing|mandatory minimum penalty]] for [[drug-related crime|drug offenses]].<ref name="PBS Frontline">{{cite web |url= https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/cron/ | title= Thirty Years of America's Drug War | publisher = pbs.org | access-date=April 4, 2007}}</ref> Although the bill was criticized, Reagan considered it a personal victory.<ref name="First Lady Nancy Reagan" /> In 1988, she became the first active first lady invited to address the [[United Nations General Assembly]], where she spoke on international drug interdiction and trafficking laws.<ref name="First Lady Nancy Reagan" /> [[File:NREAGANDRUG.jpg|thumb|Reagan hosting the first White House Ladies Conference on Drug Abuse, 1985]] Critics of Reagan's efforts questioned their purpose,<ref name="critics of just say no">{{cite news |url = http://pages.citebite.com/r1q2b3p1s9jcd|title = Just say nonsense β Nancy Reagan's drug education programs|access-date = July 2, 2015|work = Washington Monthly|date = May 1993|page = 3|last = Elliott|first = Jeff|issue = 5|volume = 25}}</ref> labelled Reagan's approach to promoting drug awareness as simplistic,<ref name="NR American">{{cite news|publisher=PBS|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reagan/peopleevents/pande03.html|author=Wolf, Julie.|title=The American Experience: Nancy Reagan|access-date=January 22, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080110015229/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reagan/peopleevents/pande03.html|archive-date=January 10, 2008}}</ref> and argued that the program did not give adequate attention to various social issues associated with increased rates of drug use, including unemployment, poverty, and family dissolution.<ref name="critics of just say no" /> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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