• by Joe Mandese , March 17, 2025

Near the end of a long, rambling speech at the U.S. Department of Justice Friday, Donald Trump disclosed plans for an "incredible," but "terrible to watch" advertising campaign the White House will launch soon to combat illegal drug use in America.

Trump credited a recent phone call with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum for the idea and thanked her for inspiring it.

Trump said the call was supposed to be about tariffs, but "we talked about drugs," and President Sheinbaum explained that Mexico actually has very little illegal drug use among its citizens and she attributed it to a long-running anti-drug advertising campaign viscerally showing the ravages of drug use on addicts.

"It's not often that I feel like I've learned something from a phone call," Trump recalled, adding, "but I realized right then and there what a great idea that is."

He then singled out his Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, a long-time political media consultant who worked on his presidential campaign, for overseeing the soon-to-be launched anti-drug campaign's development.

"I think it is really incredible," Trump told attendees, adding, "More than anything else, it's terrible to watch."

Trump then claimed his administration has reduced illegal drug use "18%" to date, adding, "the only way to get it down to close to 100% is with the death penalty.

"But I think America is not ready for that...

"Wherever you have the death penalty, you don't have drugs, but I just don't know if this country is ready for it. It's always an option, but I just don't know if you're ready for it."

Trump said the campaign will break "fairly soon" and that he believes it will have a "big impact.

"I think we get it down 50% with this campaign because when people see all of the horrible things these drugs do to you -- we're especially focused on fentanyl -- when they see all of the horrible things that happen when you take drugs -- how you look, you lose your look, everyone's vain, they don't want to lose their look, the look is so important -- and I think when they see these things they're going to say, 'You know what, I think I'll take a pass'."

Trump did not disclose whether the new ad campaign would be paid media, public service advertising or earned media, and if it involved paid, what the budget would be and what kinds of media outlets would be on the plan.

In 1989, George H. W. Bush's administration created the the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, which has spearheaded many paid and public service American anti-drug ad campaigns for more than 35 years, including multimillion-dollar ones assigned to major advertising agencies, including an infamous one in which WPP's Ogilvy & Mather was brought up on criminal charges for over-billing American taxpayers on its timesheets and ultimately settled by paying a $1.8 million civil settlement. O&M went on to retain the account despite the charges and the settlement.

Perhaps the most famous campaign to come out of the effort was this one (below).