cannabisnews.com: Guilt Trip - One Toke Over The Line?










  Guilt Trip - One Toke Over The Line?

Posted by CN Staff on May 11, 2002 at 10:59:55 PT
By James R Petersen 
Source: Playboy Magazine  

Did the events of September 11 change America? Apparently not. One constant has been the ability of opportunists to exploit the tragedy. We've kept a list of behavior that went beyond bad taste into the realm of "what were they thinking?" Among the many examples: A few days after planes flew into the WTC and the Pentagon, a cremation society ran an ad illustrated by a line drawing of the twin towers. Then there was the porn company that offered for sale a videotape called Vengeance, with the promise that all proceeds would go to the Red Cross. 
Then Detroit appropriated a hero's last words ("Let's roll") to inspire us to buy GM gas guzzlers ( Keep America Rolling ). We watched the government wrap the term homeland security around every pork project from farm subsidies ( keep America eating ) to a bogus economic-stimulus package ( keep America shopping ). But the trend peaked during the Super Bowl, when the Office of National Drug Control Policy tried to link casual drug use with world terrorism in a series of television commercials. "Where do terrorists get their money?" asked a voiceover as the camera showed an Osama clone buying AK-47s, fake passports and plastique explosives. "If you buy drugs, some of it might come from YOU." The feds spent nearly $3.5 million to place the spots. In the weeks that followed, more money went to sponsor ads in 293 newspapers. Over a picture of a slightly stoned youth, the copy read: "Yesterday afternoon I did my laundry, went for a run and helped torture someone's dad." The text over a shot of a young girl is similar: "Last weekend I washed my car, hung out with a few friends and helped murder a family in Colombia. C'mon, it was a party." Another helpful teen claimed to be an accessory after the fact in the killing of a judge. The tag line at the bottom of the ads directs the curious or guilty to -- http://www.theantidrug.com -- an official website. that provides yet more propaganda, some of it unintentionally hilarious: "If you are using drugs in America, whether you're shooting heroin, snorting cocaine, taking ecstasy or sharing a joint in your friend's backyard, evidence is mounting that what you're doing may be connected to events far beyond your existence." Heavy, man. Feeling connected to events far beyond their existence is one reason people take drugs, as anyone who saw the Grateful Dead perform can attest. But the folks at theantidrug.com hold the recreational drug user responsible for much worse. How many of the 28 organizations identified as terrorists by the State Department are funded by illegal drugs? According to -- http://www.theantidrug.com -- 12. How much did the Taliban make from the sale of heroin? Some $40 million to $50 million. The site fails to mention that just months before September 11, the U.S. government pledged a similar amount to reward the Taliban for eradicating the poppy crop. Where would that money have gone? Yesterday's ally in the war on drugs is today's terrorist and tomorrow's world leader. The British director who made the spots boasted of the "unprecedented" fact checking between the copywriters and the FBI, DEA, CIA and the Departments of Defense and State over such niggling details as the going price of AK-47 assault rifles. Certainly, given the war on drug's past history with truth, unprecedented was the right word. None of the ads touch on the basic civics lesson of the war on drugs. Prohibition creates astronomical profits. Our misguided war on drugs has created the ready cash that corrupts governments and creates havoc. Make drugs a health problem, rather than a legal one, and the prices would drop. We don't have the drug office's $180 million advertising budget, nor the services of giant Ogilvy and Mather, which created the Super Bowl campaign. But here are a few ads we'd like to see: John Ashcroft in front of a cloaked statue of justice: "Today I held a prayer meeting at the office, issued another red alert in the war on terrorism and denied an inexpensive form of pain relief to a terminally ill cancer patient." A police officer in full SWAT gear: "Yesterday I worked out at the gym, spoke at a high school DARE program and served a warrant on the wrong address, accidentally killing an innocent citizen, a father of five, as he lay sleeping on the couch." A congressman: "Yesterday I had a three-martini lunch with a lobbyist, put my daughter, who was caught trying to fill a fake prescription, into a drug treatment program and upheld marijuana laws that since 1982 have resulted in more than 8 million arrests." A well-dressed prosecutor: "Yesterday I played racquetball, took a steam bath and sent a mother of three to federal prison for 20 years because her boyfriend was a drug dealer." A Peruvian air force pilot: "Yesterday I kissed my wife good-bye, flew patrol over a jungle and shot down a small plane, killing a missionary and her daughter." Support the war on drugs and you support terror. Newshawk: AnonSource: Playboy Magazine (US)Author: James R PetersenPublished: June 1, 2002Copyright: 2002 Playboy Enterprises, Inc.Contact: forum playboy.comWebsite: http://www.playboy.com/Related Articles:Media Literacy and Anti-Drug Education http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12503.shtml Tearing Apart Bush's Drug Plan http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12061.shtmlBust the Boom for Drug War Hypocrisy http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11125.shtml 

Home    Comment    Email    Register    Recent Comments    Help









  Post Comment