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| Drug Bust |
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Posted by CN Staff on January 09, 2006 at 13:08:08 PT By Vince Beiser Source: American Prospect 
USA -- A $100-million anti-drug ad campaign was a complete waste. Here’s why. The federal drug czar’s famous advertising campaign is suffering a serious buzz-kill. The series of anti-drug radio, TV, print, and Internet ads produced by the Office of National Drug Control Policy is under unprecedented fire--including a recent call for its elimination from dozens of Congressional Republicans. That caps a series of scandals and dismal evaluations of the program that brings such bon mots as “Parents: The Anti-Drug” and “Above the Influence” to your TV screen. With the Iraq war and Katrina cleanup straining the federal budget, the Republican Study Committee--a klatch of over 100 Republican members of the House of Representatives--called in September for the ads warning young people about the dangers of weed, speed, and other substances to be scrapped to save money. The campaign had a budget of $100 million for last year, and has cost taxpayers well over $1 billion since its inception in 1998. But as the Republican group, headed by Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, pointed out in a statement, "there is no solid evidence that media campaigns are effective in either preventing or reducing the use of illegal drugs." Indeed, research commissioned by the ONDCP itself has consistently failed to find any evidence that the ads are turning kids off of drugs. A series of Congressionally mandated studies conducted under the ONDCP’s auspices by the Maryland research group Westat, Inc., and the University of Pennsylvania concluded that “youth who were more exposed to Campaign messages are no more likely to hold favorable beliefs or intentions about marijuana than are youth less exposed to those messages.” “We found there might have been some impact on parents in terms of their willingness to talk to their kids about drugs, but none on the kids,” sums up Professor Robert Hornik, a University of Pennsylvania researcher who led the study team. “There was even some suggestion that they may have boomeranged, making kids more interested in drugs.” The ONDCP, however, is still selling its ads hard. “Advertising is a trillion dollar industry for a reason: it does work,” says spokesperson Tom Riley. “The Westat evaluation was an attempt to do something that has never been done before--measuring specific responses to specific ads. That’s not how any other advertisers track their effectiveness.” Proof of the campaign’s impact, says Riley, is in the declining numbers of young people who report using drugs. “That’s in large part due to the increase in awareness of the harm drugs cause, and that’s due to our media campaign,” says Riley. “I haven’t heard any other credible argument as to what has caused the drop.” Youth drug use does seem to have slipped in recent years--though not by much. An annual survey by the National Institute on Drug Abuse released in late December reports small but significant drops in high school students’ drug use (with the exception of prescription painkillers and sedatives) in recent years--but the downward trend began in 1996, before the ONDCP’s ads began airing. Just over half of all teens will have tried some illicit drug by the time they graduate, the survey found, with marijuana the overwhelming favorite--a figure only about ten percent lower than its mid-90s peak. Another survey conducted two years ago by the Dept. of Health and Human Services found that 10.6 percent of youths between 12 and 17 years old were currently using illicit drugs, mostly marijuana, down from 11.6 percent in 2002. Then again, both figures are higher than the 9.7 percent the same study found in 2000. Its questionable results aren’t the only controversy the campaign has kicked up. Two executives of a media company formerly hired to create the ads were jailed this last summer for over billing the ONDCP. Last year, a General Accounting Office report declared that prepackaged “news stories” created by the drug czar’s office and distributed to local TV stations, where many aired without acknowledgment of their origin, constituted illegal “covert propaganda.” That finding echoed a scandal from 2000, when Salon magazine revealed that the ONDCP was allowing networks to fill public-service announcement requirements by inserting anti-drug storylines into popular shows like ER. Even the ads that admit they’re ads have come under frequent criticism. In 2003, the ONDCP was ridiculed for its $4 million Super Bowl ads alleging that drug users are indirectly funding terrorists, and linking a teenage girl’s unwanted pregnancy to her pot smoking. A series of print ads rolled out last year connects weed to serious mental illness. “Most people who have ever used marijuana know they’re being lied to by these ads,” says Aaron Houston, director of government relations with the Washington, DC-based Marijuana Policy Project. “How are they going to get kids and adults to trust them if they make such wildly outrageous statements?” The MPP and other drug reform groups have opposed the ONDCP’s ad campaign from the start. Houston says he’s not surprised to now find himself shoulder-to-shoulder with a bevy of Republicans. “It’s a waste of taxpayer money. Every independent analysis has shown it to be an utter failure,” he says. “Cutting this program is entirely consistent with conservative ideals.” Many in Congress apparently agree. The media campaign’s budget was cut by some $20 million last year, and now stands at the lowest level in its history. Caught between spendthrift conservatives, drug reform activists, and an overburdened federal budget, the drug czar may soon be forced to retreat from the airwaves. Vince Beiser is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer specializing in criminal justice issues. His work has appeared in The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, and Mother Jones. Related Articles & Web Site: Marijuana Policy Project Study: Anti-Pot Ads are Dopey Drug Czar Blasted Over Pot Story Drug Control Office Faulted For Issuing Fake Tapes Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #6 posted by FoM on January 09, 2006 at 15:45:49 PT |
| Wife of Failed U.S. Medical Marijuana Refugee Pleads to Stay in Canada January 9, 2006 VANCOUVER (CP) - The wife of a California man who uses marijuana to ease his cancer symptoms wept outside Federal Court on Monday after pleading her family's case to prevent his deportation. "I need to ask the Canadian people for help, because I'm losing the battle against saving my husband's life," Michele Kubby cried. Kubby argued on behalf of her husband Steve, who was too ill to attend the hearing. "To remove him from Canada is like removing a diabetic from his insulin," Kubby told Justice Yvon Pinard. Kubby, his wife and two young daughters, had been told to voluntarily leave Canada by Thursday or they will be forcibly removed. Pinard reserved his decision on the application for a stay of the deportation order without giving a date for judgment, but he confirmed the family wouldn't be removed from the country before he made his ruling. The Kubbys' application is the culmination of a lengthy legal and refugee claim process the family has been through since arriving from the United States in 2001. Steve Kubby, who has adrenal cancer, was allowed to smoke medical marijuana in California and was acquitted in a U.S. court when caught growing more than 260 marijuana plants at his home. However, he was convicted of possessing a small amount of mescaline and one stem from a magic mushroom. He was sentenced to three months of house arrest. Kubby escaped to Canada shortly after the conviction and made an unsuccessful refugee claim to stay in the country. Michele Kubby said her husband won't get the care he needs in jail, and certainly won't be able to smoke marijuana while serving his time. "Protect us from the zero-tolerance policy of the United States that will remove his medicine from him," she said. Keith Reimer, a lawyer for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, told the court the case comes down to the refugee board's decision. "It found . . . there is protection for medical marijuana users in the U.S," he said. "For him to say 'I would be thrown in jail and allowed to die' is speculative." Michele Kubby said the penalty for fleeing could bring a mandatory three-to four-year jail sentence, on top of his current sentence. "He will not survive in jail that long. And I am terrified, terrified for my family." Lawyer Douglas Wiatt, who has defended many medical marijuana patients in Washington state, attended Monday's hearing. Outside court, he said a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision has changed the tone around medical marijuana use. "The fact that anyone up here in Canada thinks that a medical marijuana patient is going to be treated well in the United States, it's a myth," Wiatt said. "My prediction for Mr. Kubby is he's a dead man if he winds up going back to the United States, because I don't think they'll get him out of jail fast enough." One of the couple's two daughters, nine-year-old Brooke, sat in the court gallery while her mother argued before the justice. Brook was surrounded by a dozen of Kubby's supporters, including Marc Emery, who's fighting an extradition proceeding to the United States where he's charged with operating a marijuana seed growing company. Copyright: 2006 Canadian Press [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #5 posted by FoM on January 09, 2006 at 15:20:49 PT |
| That's a very interesting link. Thanks. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #4 posted by runruff on January 09, 2006 at 14:52:02 PT:
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| "Manufactuered Consent." We are grains of sand in the cogs of the manufacture. Whoopieeeeee!!!! [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #3 posted by runruff on January 09, 2006 at 14:48:29 PT:
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| There is a write up on this web site about 9/11 you might find interesting. Also links in the directory to other info. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by herbdoc215 on January 09, 2006 at 14:24:25 PT |
| I am really worried about Kubby
As with my case the gov't is refusing to rule until last minute so nothing can be done to stop it...we must all get ready to try and push Placer County to try to save Kubby's life. I fear that Steve may not survive this process, especially since his case will be state to state and not federal like mine which mean he will get to play diesel therapy for next 6 weeks whilst red-neck sheriffs (like the ones who tried to trick me into signing releases so they could hold me three times to torture me more) transfer him from jail to jail and state to state with a hearing at each stop and ZERO medical care in between...21st century witch test! This isn't right, looking back upon my suffering it all just seems so needless...they really are willing to kill us over a plant that we have to have to survive! I'm begging everybody who ever thought they owed me anything to try and do all they can to get this man and his poor family some peace, please! Call, write, beg, cry, plead, bribe, trade, sell or whatever you have to do to bring this bs to an end for them. Cancer isn't anything to play with and this man really is sick, and if there is any decency left in this world then Canadians will see all we EVER wanted was a little peace...instead we have been lied about and vilified by almost every Canadian official we have come across. What is it going to take for them to wake up to the reality of this desperate attempt by us to try and live a normal as possible life with what little we have left. What is it about medical cannabis that makes us disposable, because they wouldn't let a dog be treated the way I was and Kubby is fixing to be treated! Kubby's blood will be on every Canadians hands, and the Sin of indifference will rest upon every American's soul! Peace, Steve Tuck
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| Comment #1 posted by FoM on January 09, 2006 at 13:16:11 PT |
| Teens Abuse Prescription Meds *** A new report reveals prescription drug abuse has reached epidemic proportions in America, especially among teenagers. Joseph A. Califano Jr. explains on The Early Show. Video: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/09/opinion/main1190800.shtml
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