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Don't Do Drug Ads
(Cynthia Cotts, Village Voice, May 22, 2002)
U.S. drug czar John Walters announced a survey that shows the government's anti-drug ads have completely failed to slow down teen drug use. Over the past five years, the feds spent $929 million to spread the message, and what did they get? . . . This is a big story, one of many recent signs that the drug war is a failure. . . . Forbes exposed a clever scheme used by the government to encourage newspapers, magazines, and TV networks to support the drug war. If a media company agreed to incorporate anti-drug messages into its original content, the government offered financial credit, thus reducing the amount of advertising a participating company was required to provide. The feds were so keen on crafting the message, Forbes reported, that some networks submitted their scripts for advance approval. The Washington Post later revealed that the Times, the Post, and USA Today received $893,000 in financial credits from the drug czar's office, a/k/a the Office of National Drug Control Policy. . . . The Partnership has stopped taking tobacco and alcohol money, but it still accepts donations from pharmaceutical companies. According to the group's 1999 annual report, donors include the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, Du Pont, Hoffmann-LaRoche, and the Pfizer Foundation. (Message to kids: Marijuana is bad. Codeine, Valium, and Viagra are good.) . . . For more proof that the U.S. drug war isn't working, just look to Europe. In March, a British government agency recommended reducing the criminal penalties for marijuana possession, because the drug "is not associated with major health problems." Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Luxembourg have recently decriminalized possession and use of most drugs.

posted by LoZo 3:57 PM