Long Way Home (anti-drug PSA)

The Long Way Home was a large-scale US anti-narcotics campaign by Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) launched in 1994. The PSA was shot in black and white and detailed African American boy Kevin Scott's nightmare walk home from school while doing the best he can to avoid drug dealers. Scott notes how his teacher abides by the idea that all kids got to do is "just say no" and how a police officer came to his class the other day saying the same thing.^[1] However, Scott points out that his teacher doesn't have to experience walking home through his neighborhood, noting that while dealers were scared of police, they were not scared of him and don't take no for answer.^[1] An older mentor's voice is then heard saying "To Kevin Scott, and all the other kids who take the long way home, we hear you. Don't give up."^[1]

As of June 2025, the Partnership for a Drug Free America's successor organization Partnership to End Addiction describes Long Way Home as being among its "iconic PSAs."^[2] In February 2002, the American Journal of Public Health noted that Long Way Home differed from numerous other anti-drug PSAs which focused more on the negative consequences of drug use and the "just say no" message, and was both focused on promoting self-efficacy in refusing the use of drugs and presented as addressing issues of both efficacy and esteem.^[3]