The Oregon Campaign, One Family’s Battle
One Family’s Battle saved the lives of hundreds of folks.
My name is Tom Monson and I have been producing educational media since 1986. It’s been several years since I traveled all over Oregon to get people involved in our campaign. Back then we called the campaign Drug Wars. It was one of the most successful things I have ever done and it really worked. The end result was that lives were saved.
What’s in a Name?
At first, there was some resistance to our name “Drug Wars.” Many people had opinions about the War on Drugs that started 50 years ago when President Richard Nixon declared drug abuse to be “public enemy number one” and declared war. Sadly, this brought partisan politics into the discussion. I found I was spending too much time trying to get people to focus on what I was doing and not get caught up in the unpopular idea. My thinking was and is, “All I’m trying to do is save children from the terrible fate of drug addiction or death.” This “false resistance” caused me to rethink the name.
That’s why we are renaming the campaign to the Saving Our Children Campaign.
The Origin of the Campaign
The other day, I sat down and wrote a list of the people in my life whose life was changed by drug and substance abuse. Frankly, it was depressing but I’ll share it briefly with you.
- When I was 12 my father died and from there on my older brother, who had a drinking and drug problem used to terrorize my sister and me.
- When I was in college, my best friend overdosed and died leaving a six-month-old baby girl and a widow to fend for themselves.
- In 1976, my friend and I were in a car that was rear-ended by an individual who was so high on angel dust he didn’t realize he hit us doing 95 mph – we both sustained serious injuries and ended up in the hospital for a week and couldn’t work for six months.
- A really close friend committed suicide because heroin ruined his life — he left behind a widow and four children.
- In 1992, my son Matthew was killed by a drunk driver — his best friend. Matt went to the cemetery and his friend went to prison.
- In 1997, I discovered that my adopted son was using methamphetamine.
- In 2002, a really close friend went to prison for driving under the influence one too many times. He subsequently passed from liver disease.
In 1997, after a long grieving period for my lost son. I started working on a film about drunk driving and discovered a serious problem looming on the horizon — methamphetamine. When I first heard about it, I thought Jack Stump, MD was talking about cross-tops, bennies, trucker’s friend, or diet pills. But this was different. This stuff was/is bad. Instead of adding one more film about drunk driving, I decided to produce something on meth. As I did the research, I learned about the symptoms and behavioral changes users exhibit and thought OH MY GOD, my adopted son is using meth. When I talked to him about it, he went totally ballistic and admitted it but he said, “It’s not a big deal, just follow the money into the caves and tunnels beneath city hall and I’d know the truth.” It didn’t make any sense to me either. I went back to my office and started working on a movie to save his life.
First Release, Crank County
I released Crank County in January 1998 and it was a big hit all across the country. “Hardball” as one drug treatment counselor named it. But more importantly for me, it got through and saved my own kid. And by the way, he’s doing fine.
Origins of One Family’s Battle
As we were marketing Crank County, I did an interview with Linda, a woman who lost her brother to heroin. Her story was so compelling that I decided to make a film about it. That show became One Family’s Battle and so began the Oregon Campaign.
When I had the rough cut of her story done, I showed it to a group of treatment specialists. It was just rough cuts from her to her talking. No music nothing but her. At the end of the presentation, you could hear a pin drop and the audience was spellbound. One man, a drug treatment director for 30 years said, “Everyone in the country needs to see this video!” I knew I had to finish the project.
When I added action and music to the show it was the most impactful presentation I have ever seen. I had watched it more than a dozen times and it brought me to tears every time.
A friend who was the manager of the local CBS television station saw it and wanted to run it on his station. Another friend who worked at the local NBC station also wanted it to be on their station.
One Family’s Battle Broadcast in all Oregon Television Markets
Over the next year, I was able to get that show on 26 different television stations throughout the state and into parts of Northern California.
Not only that, we purchased time on radio stations, newspaper ads, internet ads, direct mail, posters, and discussion guides, and I did dozens of public presentations to Rotary, Lions’ Clubs, Soroptimist Clubs, Chambers of Commerce, and high schools.
Results
Beginning the day after the One Family’s Battle broadcasts, I received dozens of calls, emails, and even people stopping me on the street telling me what a great show it was. I received letters from drug-treatment centers telling me that their intake calls had spiked the day after the broadcast.
I almost went broke spending all that money but I knew it would make a difference. Fortunately, there were several business owners who helped me cover the costs. It turned out to be a good business decision because they received some really positive name recognition and it was good for business.
The governor of Oregon heard about the broadcast and awarded us the Outstanding Media Achievement Award. I told him I couldn’t accept it without honoring my team and the sponsors who made it possible. I was just the delivery boy.
Two years after the broadcasts, I received a call from a friend who told me that the number of heroin-related deaths had plummeted by more than fifty percent.
Now What?
A few years after the Oregon One Family’s Battle Campaign, I was diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer and my outcome was uncertain. On what could have been my deathbed, I thought about the hundreds of sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, moms, and dads who were still with us because of what we did, it gave me a wonderful sense of satisfaction (and it still does).
In 2018, I planned my next venture in my hometown of Los Angeles and started laying out plans and developing a new story to make another difference. Then COVID and now it’s four years later and I’m ready to go. If you want to join me in this wonderful adventure, get in touch.