“Drugs End All Dreams” (“dead” backronym)

“Drugs End All Dreams” is a backronym (back acronym) of the word “dead” that has been printed on many images. “Drugs End All Dreams” was printed in Newsday (Long Island, NY) on October 25, 1989, reporting on an anti-drug rally given at New York City’s City Hall Park.
 
     
25 October 1989, Newsday (Long Island, NY), “Manhattan Closeup: Rallies Aim to Make Anti-Drug Rap Stick” by Curtis L. Taylor, pg. 23:
The scene was one of the rallies against drugs being held around the state, this one last Thursday in City Hall Park, where thousands of students, teachers, volunteers and concerned citizens listened to state and local elected officials, entertainment personalities, religious and business leaders and professional athletes deliver anti-drug messages.
 
With brightly colored T-shirts, buttons, banners and stickers proclaiming this year’s theme, “Life: Live It Drug Free,” the estimated 7,500 participants sent a strong anti-drug message to city children.
 
Waving signs that read, “Don’t Believe The Pipe” and “Drugs End All Dreams,” the audience wildy cheered boxers James “Buddy” McGirt and Saoul Mamby, actor Dondre Whitfield of “The Cosby Show” and singer Brenda K. Starr.
 
30 October 1989, The Daily Tribune (Wisconsin Rapids, WI), ‘Area elementary students unify to fight alcohol, drugs” by Nancy Quick, pg. 7A, col. 2:
The high school students ended their presentation by saying that the acronym for “Drugs End All Dreams” is DEAD.
       
17 August 1990,

(Nashville, TN), “Letter to the Editor,” pg. 14-A, col. 5:
Drug message still needs disseminating
To the Editor:
While waiting for a traffic light to change, a sticker on the vehicle ahead of me caught my attention. In bol, red letters the sticker read “DEAD!”
 
Drawn like a magnet, I strained to read the words under “DEAD!” which turned out to be a very poignant message: ‘Drugs end all dreams.”
(...)
Bianca C. Quinnelly
500 Paragon Mills Road 37211
 
Google Books
Puerto Rican Children on the Mainland:
Interdisciplinary Perspectives
By Alba N. Ambert and Maria D. Alvarez
New York, NY: Garland Publishing
1992
Pg. 170:
Individual teams chose to have their own identities, as well, selecting far more powerful names than I could have dreamed of: the “drug” group called themselves D.E.A.D. or Drugs End All Dreams.
   
Twitter
1011 NOW
@1011_News
Hundreds of Lincoln Youth have Drug-Free Fun: “Drugs End All Dreams” is the message the Lincoln Council on Alcoh.. http://tinyurl.com/o6ukam
3:35 AM - 16 May 2009
   
Twitter
Megan Rae
@Muhgeen
Dead: drugs end all dreams.
11:36 PM - 22 Oct 2009
 
Twitter
Mickey Lacoste
@MickeyLacoste
Drugs end all dreams
9:01 AM - 22 Sep 2015
     
Herald-Whig (Quincy, IL)
Drug Awareness Day stresses decision-making to Pike County students
By Matt Dutton Herald-Whig
Posted: Apr. 20, 2018 12:01 am Updated: Apr. 20, 2018 11:41 pm
PITTSFIELD, Ill. – The Pittsfield Rotary Club’s annual Drug Awareness Day has shifted over the years to incorporate issues plaguing younger generations such as problems surrounding social media use.
(...)
The event was made possible with help from the Health and Wellness Foundation of Pike County, which provided T-shirts for all students who attended. The T-shirts display the acronym D.E.A.D.—drugs end all dreams
 
Twitter
Drug Addiction(G12-B)
@DrugAddiction16
D.E.A.D
DRUGS END ALL DREAMS.
#DRUGADDICTION
NIÑA
8:10 PM - 10 Mar 2019