The article reported that after failing in a court-ordered rehabilitation program, the young woman landed a 10-year sentence for possession, distribution and auto theft. Though the article left it unclear, it didn't appear that she was a major dealer: The only amount of drugs mentioned was a quarter-gram of methamphetamine found at her home. Getting caught in a "drug-free" school zone apparently boosted her jail time, however. Regarding her fellow inmates, the article warned, "A lot are mean and want to fight, and some are big. Many of them are gay, and I was like fresh meat. That scared me, it still scares me, because sometimes they still mess with me."

Asked how this article was valued under the ad sales arrangement with the drug-control office, Seventeen ad salesperson Jackie O'Hare said, "It was huge." She noted that the drug-control office "wanted to make sure" there was anti-drug content in the magazine. She says, "There's another anti-drug feature in May or June; I'm sure they'll be happy about that."

Seventeen's Web site normally runs independently generated material that hasn't appeared in print. But an exception was made to feature the teenage-dealer article on the Seventeen site the entire time the January issue was on newsstands. That alone was valued at more than $70,000 toward the magazine's obligation to ONDCP, O'Hare explained.

Editor in Chief Patrice G. Adcroft denied having any knowledge of the arrangement with the drug czar's office, but added that discouraging drug use is "part of the daily menu" at Seventeen, and that, therefore, no unusual editorial steps would be necessary to create an editorial environment that the ONDCP would view as favorable. Adcroft noted that such a relationship "may be a dilemma for magazines [unlike Seventeen] that don't cover this issue, if the government says you have to have a match component." Adcroft points out that her personal commitment to maintaining the church-state line in publishing led her to quit Omni magazine in 1990 rather than subject herself to what she says was sales-side interference.

Discussing how her magazine achieved its required "match," Seventeen spokeswoman Jennifer McGuire explained, "We do exactly what Congress asks us to do. We totally comply with the drug-control office requirements."

The fifth known publication to submit anti-drug articles to the ONDCP for matching was Parade, the largest-circulation magazine in the country, with a whopping 37,340,000 copies distributed through Sunday newspapers every week. Parade is owned by the same privately held firm as Condé Nast and Fairchild Publications Inc. Given its huge circulation and the attendant high cost per ad page, Parade captured more drug-office ad money in 1999 -- $1.85 million -- than any other publication.

John J. Beni, the president of Parade Publications Inc., acknowledges that Parade has submitted editorial features to the drug czar's office for valuation under the ad-buy program. And Ogilvy's Vietri confirms that Parade's editorial content was allowed to make a "match" under the arrangement.

Beni says that the "anti-drug content is a normal" part of Parade's editorial mix. "They [the anti-drug office] can do that -- why not?" he says of the valuation program. "Any client can look at the editorial environment and see this type of environment." (But no other client benefits from a congressional mandate for a two-for-one deal.)

Indeed, in January, the magazine featured McCaffrey himself in a highly favorable cover story about the drug czar. The cover features a beaming McCaffrey flanked by flags and encircled by a diverse group of children. The cover headline promises: "The nation's drug czar has a clear message and a battle plan: Keep Our Kids Drug Free For Life."

The glowing feature inside includes the recommendation that readers visit ONDCP's Web site.

Beni refused to say whether the McCaffrey profile was assigned a valuation by the ONDCP.

The final publication was 5 million-plus circulation Family Circle, published by Gruner & Jahr USA Publishing, and the third of three magazines (along with Parade and the Sporting News) identified by Ogilvy as making a "match" with its editorial content in lieu of ad space. Family Circle snared the drug-control office's second-highest magazine buy: $1,425,000 last year.

Susan Kelliher Ungaro, Family Circle's editor in chief, notes that her publication does "two anti-drug special reports a year." Family Circle's publisher, Jim McEwan, refused to be interviewed, but relayed his thoughts through Ungaro. She says McEwan told her the drug-control office did demand a second ad page for every one purchased, but that McEwan refused. Ungaro believes the sales staff told the drug-control office that the magazine covers the drug issue, since "the sales people know our editorial calendar."

Given Family Circle's refusal -- as stated by its publisher -- to supply two ad pages for the price of one, either the drug-control office violated Congress' mandate on that two-for-one buy or editorial material was valued as a match.

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