cannabisnews.com: New Drug Czar Says Ad Campaign has Flopped


cannabisnews.com: New Drug Czar Says Ad Campaign has Flopped 










  New Drug Czar Says Ad Campaign has Flopped 

Posted by CN Staff on May 14, 2002 at 09:05:45 PT
By Vanessa O'Connell, The Wall Street Journal 
Source: Wall Street Journal 

So much for those flashy TV ads intended to inspire American kids to stay off drugs. The new U.S. drug czar, John P. Walters, says the government's antidrug advertising of recent years has failed. Worse, he fears it even may have inspired some youngsters to experiment with marijuana. "This campaign isn't reducing drug use," said Mr. Walters, who became head of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy earlier this year. Mr. Walters was openly critical of the ads even before taking office, and argued that the advertising effort was in dire need of an overhaul. 
Now, he said, he is armed with survey data that support his suspicions that the campaign hasn't worked. The five-year-old antidrug program is unusual among public-health advertising because it is funded largely by taxpayers -- $929 million so far -- rather than nonprofit groups or public service spots that media outlets run free of charge. Moreover, Congress enacted an unusual law requiring TV networks, cable outlets, magazines and other media to donate an equal amount of ad space for each ad purchase, effectively doubling the impact of the government dollars. The so-called National Youth Anti-Drug Media campaign includes more than 212 TV commercials featuring such performers as the Dixie Chicks and hip-hop singer Mary J. Blige, as well as actors posing as drug users. The campaign, developed by some of the best-known agencies on Madison Avenue, was considered a novel step in public health advertising because it was aimed directly at kids. (The ads didn't include the famous "This is your brain on drugs" commercials, a campaign from a nonprofit group that no longer is being used.) The antidrug effort is now up for reauthorization for an additional five years. At a time when plenty of government programs are seeking funding, Mr. Walters wants Congress to appropriate for next fiscal year the same $180 million it gave to the campaign this year, though he argues it will be managed more efficiently. He spent much of yesterday afternoon placing calls to U.S. lawmakers, national nonprofit organizations and other players in the war on drugs to argue that while the effort has failed to achieve its goals, it deserves continued support. Changes planned by Mr. Walters include testing all commercials for effectiveness prior to airing them -- a practice that is standard for corporate advertisers. His agency says it hasn't been able to test about 65 percent of the ads it airs because they often show up at the last minute after it already has committed to purchasing commercial time. In most cases, the government gets the spots not directly from an ad agency but through a middleman ad-industry organization that leans on agencies to donate time, talent and ideas for developing the spots. In effect, Mr. Walters is attempting to spin some otherwise gloomy news. His office this week intends to release an evaluation of the campaign showing there's little evidence it has had direct favorable effects on youth between 2000 and 2001. In fact, some kids who saw the ads, particularly girls aged 12 to 13 who didn't already use drugs, said they were slightly more likely to smoke pot after seeing the commercials. That finding might be a statistical anomaly. The evaluation is based on interviews from September 1999 through December 2001 with youth ages 12 to 18 as well as parents. These groups were interviewed separately by an outside research firm that used laptop computers to show them the commercials. Participants were then queried about their intentions to use drugs in the next 12 months. The report represents the most significant effort to measure the effectiveness of the campaign. The campaign's ads have varied in tone, from uplifting to somber, and were broadcast frequently on TV, particularly during shows that tend to be popular with kids, such as Viacom Inc.'s MTV, sitcoms and professional wrestling matches. One 30-second spot, called "Drawing" by Omnicom Group Inc.'s Merkley Newman Harty Partners, implied that hobbies such as drawing could deliver a natural high. Other ads in the series, which was done by a variety of agencies, were harshly realistic. The 30-second spot "Rodney Harvey" showed snapshots of a model posing as a doped-up addict. The last frame implies he had wasted away to death. But some of the ads took a soft approach as the government attempted to reach young children. A commercial called "No Skill" from the agency Muse Codero Chen begins with some eerie bongs as background music. A boy's voice asks, "You gonna mess with that weed again?" as young kids shoot hoops and a stoned young boy shows up at a school track meet. "I thought you stopped smoking," the voice says. "Friends," from WPP Group PLC's Ogilvy & Mather, is even less direct. It shows a birthday cake and party hats with the voice of a young boy talking about how friends stick together. The ad ends with the drug agency's logo. It is unclear exactly why the ads haven't lowered drug use by kids in any measurable way. Antismoking campaigns and campaigns touting seat belts have been shown to be effective in getting adults to change their habits. Mr. Walters suggested that the ads' messages were "too indirect" to have an impact, and speculated that the commercials might be doing more harm than good. "If an ad answers a question that a child doesn't have, there's a chance you'll incite his or her curiosity," he said. So far, the testing hasn't measured what, if any, impact was made by the most recent group of ads, which link illegal drug use to acts of terrorism. Those commercials feature footage of assault weapons, duct tape and explosives, and imply that the weapons were funded by drug sales in the U.S. Although traditional advertising has been the centerpiece of the effort, the Office of National Drug Control Policy has been experimenting with other means of getting its message across. For example, the office has been bringing together TV script writers with drug abuse experts in an effort to persuade the creators of TV shows to show drug abuse as a problem that extends beyond poor inner-city neighborhoods. Starved for ad dollars amid an advertising recession now in its second year, the media world initially hoped it could get paid by the antidrug agency to promote its cause in shows. But the government so far hasn't paid for script development with taxpayer funds. People familiar with the matter said that if the traditional advertising continues to deliver disappointing results, the office will abandon the program and Mr. Walters will begin to experiment with other ways of reaching young people. He declined to be more specific, adding, "We intend to be more rigorous in our testing." Mr. Walters also suggested he may target older teenagers rather than kids 12 and 13 years old. According to data cited by the government agency, drug abuse by young people remains stubbornly high. In an annual survey by the University of Michigan released last December, 25 percent of high-school seniors said they used illegal drugs in the prior month; more than half said they experimented with illegal drugs at least once before graduation. Newshawk: Nicholas Thimmesch II -- http://www.norml.org/Source: Wall Street Journal (US)Author: Vanessa O'Connell, The Wall Street JournalPublished: Tuesday, May 14, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.Contact: wsj.ltrs wsj.comWebsite: http://www.wsj.com/Related Articles:Critics Decry Ads Linking Drugs, Terrorhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12341.shtmlSaying No To Propagandahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12208.shtmlTo Fight Terrorism, Quit Fighting Drugshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12185.shtmlAre We Helping Terrorists by Not Legalizing?http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12174.shtml 

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Comment #29 posted by TScott on May 31, 2002 at 15:35:55 PT:
Advertising
Seen from a distance, the government has become a corporate entity that wants us as consumers. Targeting the youngest possible demographic means you dominate a greater proportion of their lifespan. The really cool part of this scam is that when you give them your money, you don't get any product. Your life does not get better. And they certainly can't be held to a warranty or standard of negligence when there is no product to begin with. Arguably, even we benefit from this arrangement, because the government is at least able to fire a child molester, something the church has apparently been unable to do.
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Comment #28 posted by dddd on May 15, 2002 at 20:22:56 PT
Oh well
I figured Robert Frost was better than Art Linkletter....LoL...dddd
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Comment #27 posted by Lehder on May 15, 2002 at 11:08:22 PT
but you know that the dumbing down 
and the rape of American culture will only accelerate because the most awful replacement of all has already been made: George W. has been replaced by George W.
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Comment #26 posted by kaptinemo on May 15, 2002 at 10:44:24 PT:
Sorry, but there's better candidates out there
'Robert Frost', eh? Sorry, I'm no poet. I am an occasionally stunningly foul-mouthed ex-grunt who sees his beloved country being flushed down the sh*tt*r by some really sick super-rich One-Worlders who use idiot Fundies as Walters, Ashcroft, and The Hutchster as their purblind cannon-fodder to achieve the very aims that the One-Wordlers want...and the Fundies rave against. So pathetically stupid. I certainly don't hold with everything in the book Blinded By the Right...but I have to admit, the Fundies have sure messed up.But a poet? Nah......
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Comment #25 posted by dddd on May 15, 2002 at 08:26:38 PT
.......wow.........PPS............
.......It made me grin BIGTIME,to know that I'm not the only Richard Brautigan fan!...now I gotta dig through boxes of books to find my complete Brautigan library.... I'm gonna do it now...............cheers..........dddd
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Comment #24 posted by dddd on May 15, 2002 at 08:16:54 PT
....P.S........
...I doubt Joyce Brothers could fill EJs' shoes!,,,,,,,,,,,and trying to find a replacement for Kaptinemo would be nearly impossible.You'd have better luck hunting down a Robert Frost replacement,,...dddd
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Comment #23 posted by Lehder on May 15, 2002 at 08:16:13 PT
wouldn't it be an improvement
if compassionate conservatism were replaced by machines of loving grace:http://www.cs.unca.edu/~edmiston/poems/grace.html( my favorite Brautigan poem - after 'your catfish friend')
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Comment #22 posted by Ethan Russo MD on May 15, 2002 at 08:10:57 PT:
My Heroes
DDDD, Jerry Garcia was one of my pop heroes. And Richard Brautigan! His Trout Fishing in America was one of the most brilliant books of the generation.
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Comment #21 posted by dddd on May 15, 2002 at 08:08:02 PT
..Nope.....Andy Rooney didnt want the dddd gig.
,,so now ,,,,,Sony,who has recently purchased the rights to dddd,,has been looking everywhere for a suitable replacement....Vincent Price was not interested.....Keith Richards never responded...Ralph Nader could not be bought,,,and Jerry Garcia was dead...so was Richard Brautigan..........d...d...d...d
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Comment #20 posted by Lehder on May 15, 2002 at 07:49:37 PT
 arrogant, juvenile tv ads
The government should quit wasting my money on these ads altogether. It has no business telling people what's "good" for them. Marijuana is good; it prevents cancer and offers many other benefits. Einstein said that the very existence of government is justified only insofar as it promotes the development of the individual. We have a government that, whether by conspiracy or by happenstance, seeks to degrade individuals, stifle them with as much busy conformity as humanly possible, and drive them into the kind of spaced-out ignorance we present to the world in George Bush: "For a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times." (from an address delivered in Tokyo**, Feb. 18, 2002)I read at cnews yesterday that Bill Maher is being replaced by some clown or another. The "refurbished" library here has a beautiful new ceiling, but there's no more browsing - you must ask permission to see or handle the books, you must obtain a "stacks pass" to see the journals, the place is practically empty of patrons, and its contents have been sanitized. Soon dddd will be replaced by Andy Rooney, kaptinemo by the wit and wisdom of Art Linkletter, and EJ by Dr. Joyce Brothers.Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag and begin
slitting throats. -- Henry Louis Mencken
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Comment #19 posted by Patrick on May 15, 2002 at 07:12:58 PT
Dan B
In attempting to answer your question…What kind of sick individual thought it would be a good idea to teach kids that it's normal to torture and kill people?I think it was a whole combination of sick people actually. Its our own elected government/special interest money government (33 million dollar record just last night!) that is so out of control that it is placing the blame for past failures in policy directly on the next generation of youth in an effort to save them from themselves. My question is just exactly what is their motivation for doing this? I think that therein lies their weaknesses that we must exploit to make the changes needed.PS> Congrats on the baby! Think I'll smoke a cigar!
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Comment #18 posted by Dan B on May 15, 2002 at 06:37:41 PT:
Here's a good question: 
Here's what they said about some ads in this article:But some of the ads took a soft approach as the government attempted to reach young children. A commercial called "No Skill" from the agency Muse Codero Chen begins with some eerie bongs as background music. A boy's voice asks, "You gonna mess with that weed again?" as young kids shoot hoops and a stoned young boy shows up at a school track meet. "I thought you stopped smoking," the voice says. "Friends," from WPP Group PLC's Ogilvy & Mather, is even less direct. It shows a birthday cake and party hats with the voice of a young boy talking about how friends stick together. The ad ends with the drug agency's logo.The people behind these ads obviously believe that kids will stop using drugs if they are shown other kids who disapprove of using drugs saying things like, "You gonna mess with that weed again?" and "I thought you stopped smoking." My question, then, is this: How does the government expect kids to react to the new ads that depict kids saying things like, "Yesterday afternoon, I did my laundry, went out for a run, and helped torture someone's dad," or "Last weekend I washed my car, hung out with a few friends, and helped murder a family in Colombia"? Do these ads not also model behavior for kids? What kind of sick individual thought it would be a good idea to teach kids that it's normal to torture and kill people?Why, John Walters and his ilk, of course.Dan B
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Comment #17 posted by qqqq on May 15, 2002 at 01:09:24 PT
...Here's What Wiener Says...
...My favorite...Bobby Wiener.......
Bob Weiner: Drug Czar Walters' Assertion of Ads' 'Flop' Absurd 
U.S. Newswire 
14 May 13:59 Former White House Drug Spokesman Bob Weiner Says Drug Czar 
Walters' Assertion of Ads' 'Flop' Absurd 
To: National Desk 
Contact: Bob Weiner, 301-283-0821 or 202-329-1700 WASHINGTON, May 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Bob Weiner, spokesman and 
public affairs director for the White House Drug Policy Office from 
May 1995-August 2001, called the assertion by Drug Czar John 
Walters that the anti-drug ad campaign has "flopped" absurd in view 
of data showing the positive impact of the ads and numbers showing 
significant youth drug use decline during the last three years of 
the Clinton administration. Weiner stated: 
"The assertion by the current Drug Czar, in today's Wall Street 
Journal, that the anti-drug ad campaign has "flopped" is absurd. 
We have the data showing the tests that proved that the old ads 
worked -- teens were 13 percent less likely to use drugs after 
seeing 'Frying Pan' for example. If the Drug Office isn't still 
testing their new ads, look within thyself... Or go back to the 
ones we did which worked! "Youth drug use went way down 34 percent our last 3 years, when 
the campaign was rolling. The campaign has been reaching 94 
percent of the target audience of teens and parents seven times a 
week. It appears that Mr. Walters wants to slam so he can re-create 
-- or worse, dismantle -- the program. That was his threat in his 
statements before his confirmation. That's been part of his 
partisan proclivity since time eternal, unlike former Drug Czar 
Barry McCaffrey who capitalized on bipartisan and broad reaching 
support. "In view of data showing the positive impact of the heavily 
studied ads and numbers showing significant youth drug use decline 
during the last three years of the Clinton administration, Mr. 
Walters would be well served to use and re-use what has worked well 
and to change only what is ineffective." Since leaving the White House Office of National Drug Control 
Policy, Weiner is president of Robert Weiner Associate Public 
Affairs and Issues Strategies. 
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Comment #16 posted by qqqq on May 15, 2002 at 00:10:52 PT
..Effectiveness Testing..
.Kap brings up an excellent question concerning ;;
..."Changes planned by Mr. Walters include testing all commercials for effectiveness prior to airing them -- a practice that is standard for corporate advertisers.."
...As if to say that an anti drug commercial is somehow the same as a Taco Bell commercial!....This will just add one more charge on the bill,as Madison Avenue ad firms milk the shit out of the tax coffers!...
..One wonders how such testing will be done..? ..will they show the commercials to a group of kids,,and then ask them how much the ads made them not want to do drugs???,. or perhaps they will show the "test children",a commercial,and then have them return 5 years later to report on how effective the drug ads were..??
...In my opinion,,the long and the short of it is,,that to begin with,,our government has no right,or approval to spend money on any TV commercials!..I feel the same way about all these glossy,multi million dollar armed forces recruitment commercials..I'll bet that they spend far more on military ads,than on anti-drug ads....
  .. ...I have a real hard time trying to figure out how the government gets away with these ad campaigns..~!?... Since when is it a function of the government to buy advertisments to promote their laws,and military?, AND ,,furthermore,, if the government does have advertisements to do,,why the fuck should taxpayers foot the bill for access to the "publicly owned" airwaves?..The American people are supposed to own the broadcast spectrum,, but,,,then again,,the American government is supposed to be represenative of the American People....
...I think the main reason why the US government empire is so worried about "terrorists",,has less do do with protecting Americans from terrorists,,rather it has mainly to do with protecting the government from PISSED American people.....I'm not a terrorist type person in any way,,,,,,BUT,,,I gotta admit that I am fuckin' PISSED! ,and I doubt I am the only one is trying not to actually hate our government.,,a government that has now become an entity within itself...A government that has spun way out of control,especially in the last few years.,,A government that has nearly zero accountability to the majority of its' people....
..If we are going to fund anti-drug propaganda,,then we should also fund equal time,and access for those of us who have opposing points of view!!!....We have come to the point,where "free speech",is no longer alloiwed on a national level....Even if you could afford to buy a spot during national primetime,,if your message was too critical of the government,,your "free speech",would be re-interpreted by the empire...We might as well face it,,actual "free speech",is a thing of the past!..You can buy network infomercial time for vitamins,,wrinkle cures,,breast and weenie enhancement potions,,,but you CANNOT purchase the same access for a political infomercial that criticizes the government!,,(with the exception of Republocrat election campaign ads).......I really liked Ross Perot.He was far from perfect,but I remember when he was running for prez,,and he had those half hour primetime spots,where he cut the bullshit,and showed graph with the raw figures,and he called NAFTA, "Shafta"! ....I think he was trashed by dark powers of the empire...All third party attempts at running for the oval office white Whorehouse,, will be discredited by similar media besmirchment ploys......The Beast is on the loose. The empire has passed the point where it can be stopped.
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on May 14, 2002 at 20:16:35 PT
Here Are The Transcripts for Cross Fire!
I shouldn't post CNN on C News but I put them on my personal web site with a link back to this article. Here you go!Partial Transcripts: Aired May 14, 2002 CNN CROSSFIRE
 Do Drug Ads Really Work?
http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/cf.htm
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Comment #14 posted by Patrick on May 14, 2002 at 15:01:56 PT
$929 million so far…
Could have been used to help addicts find their way out of substance abuse. Or to buy kaptinemo a light saber to carve all this turkey and save his arm!Changes planned by Mr. Walters include testing all commercials for effectiveness prior to airing them Just like in that movie A Clockwork Orange. I can see Walters strapping me into his media chair with my eyes clamped wide open while he force feeds his ad program until I break and say it is effective I don't want any more weed.
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on May 14, 2002 at 13:38:55 PT
Thanks Nicholas 
I will watch it for sure. By the way Keith Stroup did a really fine job when he was on The O'Reilly Factor. He didn't lose his focus. You only have so long to get your point across and he maximized the time very well.
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Comment #12 posted by kaptinemo on May 14, 2002 at 13:35:56 PT:
Par for the course
Thank you, NT, for the head's up. And I am not surprised at this gaggle of tiresome, retread DrugWarriors attempting 'one-upmanship' criticism regarding the nearly ONE BILLION DOLLARS that has been wasted in their propaganda attempts. It should be noted, however, when Mr. Weiner was Barry's 'footman', who initiated the spending of taxpayer funds on dumb-as-a-post ads trying to sucker savvy teens, he had nary a twitch about it.I guess Mr. Weiner's mad about not having his snout in the Fed trough anymore, and wants to 'get some' off of the new Administration. 'No honor among thieves', indeed...
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Comment #11 posted by Nicholas Thimmesch on May 14, 2002 at 13:03:49 PT:
POLITICS MAKES FOR.....
...strange bedfellows! Get this: tonight's CROSSFIRE will feature: Traficant Speaks Out: Congressman James Traficant has been convicted on 10 counts of corruption but that hasn't slowed down his reelection bid. Will the renegade congressman be sent back to Washington by his Ohio constituents? Is he the best choice to represent their interests in the halls of Congress? Will his colleagues vote him out of the chamber? We ask him about it all tonight. Then, White House Drug Czar John Walters says that the government's antidrug ads have failed. Would the money be better spent elsewhere? Should the ads be scrapped altogether? A former spokesman for Clinton's drug czar and a critic of the ads square off. 
 
TONIGHT'S GUESTS:
• Rep. James Traficant, Ohio
• Robert Weiner, Former White House Drug Spokesman
                 • Robert Maginnis, Family Research Council
 
 TONIGHT'S GUESTS:
• Rep. James Traficant, Ohio
• Robert Weiner, Former White House Drug Spokesman
• Robert Maginnis, Family Research CouncilMaginnis as a "critic" of the ONDCP's ads? Go figure. People can e-mail their comments -- live -- by sending them to: cnn gwu.eduNORML provided CNN with background on ONDCP's ad campaign(s) over the year but will not have a rep on the program.
 
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on May 14, 2002 at 12:10:16 PT
Related Article
CCHR Condemns FDA Irresponsibility in War on Drugs 
'Just Sprinkle A Little Kiddy-Cocaine On Your Child's Applesauce'
Contact: Marla Filidei of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), 323-467-4242 
LOS ANGELES, May 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Just when you thought it safe to have your kids eat at the dinner table, along comes the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approving stimulants with applesauce! 
U.S. Newswire: http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/first/0513-107.html
Newshawk: dddd
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Comment #9 posted by MikeEEEEE on May 14, 2002 at 11:32:39 PT
????
These guys should pay from their own pockets for their failure. Unfortunately, us tax payers are paying.
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Comment #8 posted by idbsne1 on May 14, 2002 at 11:24:13 PT
I like this!!!!.....:)
and in the Wall Street Journal?!?!!?What a way to reach people who are REALLY concerned about money....lol....maybe they will realize the WOSD is a waste of MONEY?? Maybe that'll get'em riled up....even though violating personal freedoms didn't.....What fools these prohibitionists are!?!?!?....I like your quotes goneposthole!!!! "In most cases, the government gets the spots not directly from an ad agency but through a middleman ad-industry organization that leans on agencies to donate time, talent and ideas for developing the spots"Right... so Where does the money go? If they are donating the resources? Hmmm? And this is an outright lie (as if there aren't others...lol...):"Starved for ad dollars amid an advertising recession now in its second year, the media world initially hoped it could get paid by the antidrug agency to promote its cause in shows. But the government so far hasn't paid for script development with taxpayer funds. "Lying Piece of Sh*t! Why don't you stop taking those drinks and recall that your predecessor Barry McCaffrey did JUST that...giving TV stations airtime breaks in exchange for script manipulation.....go look up the word PROPAGANDA you "Communist Nazi Terrorist"? (how do you like that? all rolled into one?...lol)I know that I didn't experience the 60's, but I feel REALLY good about the Big Picture!!!..although there are friends here that are suffering, The Rest of the World is starting to stand up to us....countries are realizing that the Drug War is more harmful than good...Canada and the UK are considering decrimming, as well as some Mexican States which'll give the US a HARD time!!!...punk and anti-establishment music is mainstream now... their lyrics will spread the word about our corrupt government!!!!...the truth about the efficacy of cannabis is coming out...we need to ride this wave and pick up as many as we can on the way!!!! idbsne1 
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Comment #7 posted by kaptinemo on May 14, 2002 at 11:15:26 PT:
My arm's tired from all this turkey carving
I need a laser.Changes planned by Mr. Walters include testing all commercials for effectiveness prior to airing them -- a practice that is standard for corporate advertisers. His agency says it hasn't been able to test about 65 percent of the ads it airs because they often show up at the last minute after it already has committed to purchasing commercial time. In most cases, the government gets the spots not directly from an ad agency but through a middleman ad-industry organization that leans on agencies to donate time, talent and ideas for developing the spots. (Emphasis mine -k.)Okay, how will they 'test' these commercials? By asking kids savvy enough to guess what answers the 'grown-ups' want to hear? Today's kids are for more media savvy than their parents; they've been subjected to DrugWarrior manipulation literally all their lives; does anyone here think that (knowing what an honest answer will provide them in the way of punishment) they will provide anything other than an answer that the 'grown-ups' want to hear? Evidently, Mr. Walters is that naive. And such naivete in a grown man is not just embarassing; it's grounds for a charge of incompetence...or worse.Mr. Walters suggested that the ads' messages were "too indirect" to have an impact, and speculated that the commercials might be doing more harm than good. "If an ad answers a question that a child doesn't have, there's a chance you'll incite his or her curiosity," he said.How old is this man? He's just now tumbled to something a 12 year old could have told him? Isn't this what we have been saying all along - that to play 'hide and go seek' about illicit drugs will only raise a child's consciousness about the matter? So far, the testing hasn't measured what, if any, impact was made by the most recent group of ads, which link illegal drug use to acts of terrorism. Those commercials feature footage of assault weapons, duct tape and explosives, and imply that the weapons were funded by drug sales in the U.S.Now, this flies in the face of what he's been crowing about for months: how wonderfully effective his efforts have been...and there's been no testing? None? (As if it would do any good; as I said before, kids are not dumb - and never were. They'll give whatever answer gets them away from these Fundie Torquemadas-in-suits.)Sleep safe, America; your government is in good hands...NOT!
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Comment #5 posted by Nicholas Thimmesch on May 14, 2002 at 10:33:01 PT:

CNN'S CROSSFIRE.....
...is likely to do a segment tonight on this issue: NORML is briefing CNN/Hosts. Not certain if a NORML rep will be on.....tune in!
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Comment #4 posted by goneposthole on May 14, 2002 at 10:27:13 PT

ONDCP
A good example of a press release they could make would maybe go like this: "No matter what we do, no matter how hard we try, we cannot stop people from using and experimenting with drugs. We are seriously considering legalizing any and all illegal substances.""What we have tried in the past and what we are doing now has been and is complete failure. All it has done is spawn graft and corruption. Sorry we wasted taxpayer's money and time. We'll pay it all back to the citizens.""It can only restore the faith and trust that has been lost." "Please forgive us.""We also hope and pray that none of us will be held accountable and go to prison; that we cannot handle."
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Comment #3 posted by darwin on May 14, 2002 at 10:25:20 PT

Hmm....
Lecturing children through TV doesn't seem to work....
It must be "too indirect" to have an impact.
Give us more money and we'll threaten them instead. That'll work.
Morons.Kids just don't trust the government, or anything they are told by them. They learn this mistrust somewhere (parents, DARE, teachers and their pee cups). When I was in high school, "F*** the police" was a popular song.This mistrust is the real problem. Return trust and respect to law enforcement and government by eliminating bad laws and corruption. Then children will be open to learning about drugs before trying them.You'd think this is self evident, and it may be. Truth is, those in power have more important thing$ to worry about than what kids think of them. We will see more and more kids pulling pranks like pipe bombs until WE elect sensible politicians.
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Comment #2 posted by legalizeit on May 14, 2002 at 09:48:16 PT

They just don't learn
How many more billions of tax dollars will be wasted before they do learn?One thing for sure -- for me, anyway -- I hate most ads with a passion anyway, especially ones that tell me what I am supposed to do ("hurry in to [some store having a sale]", "ask your doctor about [some strangely legal prescription drug]", etc.)I'm sure that most kids inclined to experiment with illicit substances are of the same mind set. It's bad enough having so many people telling them what to do; do they need their TV to preach to them also?I hope Congress, this time around, recognizes this ad campaign as the lead balloon that it is, and tells Walters to take a hike!Better yet, tell all Drug Warriors to take a hike and bury their expensive failed war!But of course we know Congress better than that....
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Comment #1 posted by Duzt on May 14, 2002 at 09:43:22 PT

??????????????
Didn't he just 2 weeks ago come out and tell us how great these ads are because they appeal to children's patriotiam (I hate patriotism, it's only for people who have never left there own countries and somehow feel thay are better than everyone else). I can't understand how these people can say anything they want and there is no oversite. The ONDCP wasforces by law to start showing that they are making progress with the drug war by the mid 90's and to this date thaey haven't done so. Most people don't even know who Walter's is, if they start seeing even more of their money wasted (corporate bailouts, farm subsidies, social security gone, etc.) through these misinformation campaigns that cause children to distrust the government even more, people may start to get as fed-up as us. 
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