cannabisnews.com: Drug Office to End Ads Linking Drugs, Terror










  Drug Office to End Ads Linking Drugs, Terror

Posted by CN Staff on April 01, 2003 at 19:27:07 PT
By Randall Mikkelsen  
Source: Reuters  

Washington - The White House office in charge of combating illegal drug use plans to end a controversial ad campaign linking drug purchases to terrorism, a spokesman said on Tuesday. The move comes as the office seeks renewed congressional authorization for its media activities and prepares to revamp the way it tracks the effectiveness of its anti-drug messages.
The ads will end in June, following the run of three new ads in the series that begin this week, said Tom Riley, spokesman for the White House office of Drug Control Policy. Riley said the ads had been a success and the decision to end them was unrelated to any criticisms, which include charges the ads are misleading or ineffective. "It's been one of the most successful public information campaigns ever," Riley said. "If you ask anybody on the street, they say, 'Yeah, drug money funds terror."' But he said, "We've hit a plateau in terms of the message." So the office's campaigns will seek a new emphasis, including an effort to portray the dangers of marijuana use, and later, a campaign urging drug users to seek treatment. Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Foundation, which seeks to eliminate penalties for use of the drug, dismissed the ad campaign as ineffective and said it underscored a lack of credibility by the federal government on drug issues. "It did not work, it would not work," he said. The campaign, which began running during the 2002 Super Bowl, has featured ads suggesting people who bought illegal drugs were funding terror networks that helped distribute them. One ad features the ghost of a girl, killed by a bomb, who tells a woman, "You killed me. ... You bought drugs. You gave them money." An official of the advertising industry group Partnership for a Drug-Free America, which provides free anti-drug ads for the government but was not involved in the drugs-terror campaign, criticized the effort in congressional testimony last year. "While it may be appealing to adults because it seems to be delivering a potent message to their kids, I believe that it violates some of the basic premises of advertising, which number one is you do not attack your consumer," partnership vice chairman Allen Rosenshine said. The ads also served as a model for a columnist Arianna Huffington's advertising campaign against gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles, linking them to funding for terrorists. The Bush administration is seeking to raise the budget for its anti-drug ads to $170 million in 2004 from $150 million in fiscal 2003. It is also seeking congressional approval to authorize the program for five more years. Dave Murray, a research analyst for the White House drug office, said studies showed drug use among teen-agers had been declining for the first time in years. "We have reason to believe that something out there is having an effect." Source: Reuters Author:  Randall Mikkelsen Published: Tuesday, April 01, 2003Copyright: 2003 Reuters News ServiceWebsite: http://www.reuters.comContact: http://about.reuters.com/custhelp/Related Articles & Web Site:NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/White House To End Drugs & Terror Adshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15846.shtmlAnti-Drug PSA's Must Be Identifiedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14693.shtmlGot Oil - Arianna Huffingtonhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14527.shtml 

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Comment #10 posted by potpal on May 15, 2003 at 05:44:02 PT
Guilty by association
IMO, by associating drug users with terrorism, they've only created an atmosphere that enables drug users to feel like therefore consequently begin to think like and act like terrorists somewhere down the line...doh!Sow every seed.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #9 posted by potpal on April 02, 2003 at 08:57:58 PT
Indeed...
'Yeah, drug money funds terror...and it's prohibition that creates drug money."' 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #8 posted by The GCW on April 02, 2003 at 04:29:07 PT
Terrorism = Warlords work = Bush = infinite evil.
THE GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATESMEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release:
Tuesday, April 1, 2003WARTIME CONTRACTS FAVOR BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S
CORPORATE CRONIESGreens see extensive war profiteering by firms with
White House and Pentagon connections, while Bush urges
Americans -- especially troops and veterans -- to
sacrifice.WASHINGTON, DC -- Funding for the war on Iraq, while
requiring massive cuts in social spending for health,
education, services, and welfare and reduction of
veterans benefits, is becoming a huge windfall for
favored corporations, say members of the Green Party
of the United States."This $100-billion war is proving a cash cow for
corporations, especially those with connections to the
White House, Congress, and the Pentagon, while U.S.
troops and Iraqi civilians and soldiers face death and
injury," said Tom Bolema, Town Councilperson (Green)
of Juniper Hills, California. "European governments
are furious that the administration plans to award the
major contracts, worth somewhere between $20 billion
and $100 billion, to U.S. corporations, without any
competitive bidding process.""The Bush Administration has already awarded
Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root a Pentagon
contract to rebuild Iraqi oil fields," said Jake
Schneider, treasurer of the Green Party of the United
States. "USAID awarded a $4.8 million contract to
Stevedoring Services of America to manage the Umm Qasr
port. Companies like the Bechtel Group, Fluor
Corporation, Parsons Group and defense contractors
Carlyle Group and Global Crossing are expected to make
millions off the war. Humanitarian relief, including
assistance in Iraq's water shortage, is proving a
distant second in priority behind military deals and
control over Iraqi oil."The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics
documents that Halliburton (for which Vice President
Cheney served as CEO from 1995 to 2000), Bechtel,
Fluor, and Parsons contributed a combined $2.64
million to political campaigns between 1999 and 2002,
with 68 percent of those dollars given to Republicans."Bechtel is asserting the right, granted through the
IMF and World Bank, to take private control over
municipal public water supplies in Bolivia, most
controversially in Cochabamba," said Mark Dunlea,
chair of the Green Party of New York State. "Will
Bechtel use its current connections and postwar
influence to take over Iraqi resources?"Other recent revelations:*** According to the Sustainable Energy and Economy
Network and the Institute for Policy Studies, current
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and then
Secretary of State George Shultz, acting on behalf of
Bechtel, began negotiating a deal with Saddam in 1983
to open up the Aqaba pipeline through Iraq. Saddam's
rejection resulted in the first rift in U.S.-Iraq
relations.*** An investigation by the Center for Public
Integrity revealed that nine members of the Pentagon's
Defense Policy Board have ties to major defense
contractors. (The exposure of Richard Perle's
conflicts of interest connections with Global Crossing
led to Perle's resignation as board chair last week,
but Perle will retain a seat on the board.)*** Massive new powers for Vice President Cheney to
classify U.S. documents will ensure less oversight and
accountability, shielding contractors and government
officials with conflicts of interest from public
scrutiny."These deals reveal that the major motivation for the
invasion has less to do with concern for liberation,
an already dubious promise under prolonged U.S.
occupation, than with giving the U.S. corporate and
political control over Iraq and its resources," said
Ben Manski, Wisconsin and national party co-chair.
"It's a situation comparable to Enron's looting of
Croatia when the Clinton Administration awarded it a
contract to help rebuild that nation after the
conflict in the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
What we're seeing now is Enron politics at its worst."MORE INFORMATIONThe Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
National office: 1314 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-296-7755, 866-41GREEN"Contracts doled out to rebuild Iraq are questioned"
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 27, 2003
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/114656_rebuild28.shtmlCenter for Responsive Politics
http://www.opensecrets.org"Advisors of Influence: Nine Members of the Defense
Policy Board Have Ties to Defense Contractors" by
André Verlöy and Daniel Politi, Data by Aron Pilhofer
The Center for Public Integrity
http://www.publicintegrity.org/dtaweb/report.asp?ReportID=513&L1=10&L2=10&L3
=0&L4=0&L5=0Exposé on the failed 1983 Aqaba pipeline deal
Issued by the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network
and the Institute for Policy Studies
http://www.ips-dc.org/crudevision/crude_vision.pdf"The Pentagon's New Map: It explains why we're going
to war, and why we'll keep going to war", by Thomas
P.M. Barnett, U.S. Naval War College
Esquire, March 2003 issue
http://www.nwc.navy.mil/newrulesets/ThePentagonsNewMap.htm
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Comment #7 posted by afterburner on April 01, 2003 at 22:13:53 PT:
Re: Vigil's Link
U.K. Home Secretary David Blunkett said, "This agreement will speed the creation, testing and deployment of the very best that British and American scientific minds have to offer. Our doctors and police will now have the best tools available as we seek to reduce the supply and demand of illicit drugs. The "very best that British and American scientific minds have to offer"? With John P. Walters, the champion of junk science? U.K. Home Secretary David Blunkett, you must be daft.UN Attacks Blunkett's New Cannabis Law http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/15/thread15565.shtmlDo you have a backbone, Mr. Blunkett?Swiss Panel Set to Back Cannabis Legalization http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/15/thread15529.shtmlSwiss Stand Firm Over Cannabis Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13573.shtmlMaybe the Swiss can withstand the "Revenge of Reefer Madness."The Brutal War on Medical Marijuana http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/14/thread14034.shtmlAre these those "best tools available" [for] "doctors and police" that you spoke concerning? Wake up and turn I loose
Wake up and turn I loose
For the rain is fallingGot to have kaya now, got to have kaya now
Got to have kaya now, for the rain is falling-Kaya by Bob Marley http://www.bobmarley.com/songs/songs.cgi?kaya
ego destruction or ego transcendence, that is the question.
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Comment #6 posted by afterburner on April 01, 2003 at 20:57:05 PT:
Beyond the Pale.
The strung-out junkies and cokeheads whose addictions really do support terrorism are too fried to care. Why waste money of advertisements trying to convince them of anything when all they care about is their next fix? The ads that the ONDCP is so proud of demonize cannabis, even medical cannabis, which they deny exists, despite testimonials from many patients and medical research from many quarters. The dinosaurs that control the FDA will one day meet the same fate, as they are oblivious to change, facts, and reality. The DEA attacks locally grown medical cannabis forcing people to buy from the black market, a self-fulfilling prophecy. DEAth, give your head a shake!ego destruction or ego transcendence, that is the question.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on April 01, 2003 at 20:34:18 PT

Thanks Virgil
I guess we really need to pay attention these days. With war other important issues don't barely get mentioned so we need to stay very informed. I believe many laws are passed when we aren't paying attention. 
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Comment #4 posted by Virgil on April 01, 2003 at 20:22:16 PT

FoM
My simple mind would say that the prohibitionist hardliners of the US have bought their poodle a new leash. Cooperation between the US and UK translates to bribes for their alliance. I will put it up at the hempcity website and see what people say.I wanted to copy something from one of the three articles that went up at NarcoNews. Unfortunately Lulu has formally embrassed the party line of the US, but the Harm Reduction groups are going to hold him to his earlier position that sounds something like Jimmy Carter when he said the penalties should not cause more harm than the substances themselves. To read the NarcoNews articles this is a big problem because Brazil might well be the most addicted country on the planet and now that they have a people's president instead of a corporate/US representative, they want change.This was an interesting section because it said drug testing was unconstitutional because it forces a person to provide eviedence against himself. From http://www.narconews.com/Issue29/article714.html"We are totally against drug courts," she explains. Understand this well, kind reader: She and her colleagues, based on their street-level knowledge, are so strongly against drug courts that, she informs Narco News, they have contracted lawyers to file lawsuits against individual medical doctors who participate in the forced imposition of "treatment" on addicts: "Because," she, a psychologist, notes, "it is unethical." "The root problem of implementing drug courts," Szterenfeld explains, "is that they violate the Brazilian Constitution and the right to not be forced to provide evidence against yourself. If they force you to submit to periodic drug testing, they are violating the Constitution." 

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Comment #3 posted by FoM on April 01, 2003 at 19:59:12 PT

About The UK
They won't try to change the UK's mind on Cannabis will they? That's scary to think.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on April 01, 2003 at 19:57:24 PT

Virgil
What does this press release mean? I don't understand it.
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Comment #1 posted by Virgil on April 01, 2003 at 19:48:19 PT

OCNDP press release- 3/31
From 
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/news/press03/033103.htmlFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 
Contact: Rafael Lemaitre 202-395-6618 
Monday, March 31, 2003 UNITED STATES AND UNITED KINGDOM ANNOUNCE NEW SCIENTIFIC PARTNERSHIP AGAINST DRUG DEPENDENCY AND ADDICTION Top Researchers Will Partner to Develop State-of-the-Art Technologies Aimed at Helping Doctors and Police Fight Drug Crime and Addiction 
 
(Washington, D.C.) —The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the United Kingdom's Home Office today signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will facilitate the flow of information between scientists working on programs and technologies aimed at reducing drug crime and addiction. The new agreement will integrate and adapt the counterdrug technologies from both nations to save development costs and avoid duplication.John Walters, Director of National Drug Control Policy stated, "Both of our nations suffer from addiction, crime, and violence caused by drugs. Our shared challenges deserve shared solutions. This agreement will allow our medical communities and law enforcement agencies to be more effective by making the most up to date technology and research available to them. We look forward to expanding our already productive partnership with the U.K."U.K. Home Secretary David Blunkett said, "This agreement will speed the creation, testing and deployment of the very best that British and American scientific minds have to offer. Our doctors and police will now have the best tools available as we seek to reduce the supply and demand of illicit drugs. This effort will save lives and improve the quality of life for all of our citizens."ONDCP and its partners utilize science, medicine, and technology to achieve the goals and objectives of President Bush's National Drug Control Strategy. Through the diligent efforts of medical researchers and counterdrug enforcement scientists, addicts are completing treatment and reentering society, and drug traffickers are being apprehended and removed from our communities. The new partnership will benefit medical researchers who are currently researching the basic circuitry of the brain in order to understand the fundamental causes of substance abuse addiction. Scientists and engineers will also be able to assist police achieve an edge over sophisticated drug suppliers by developing technology that can be used to detect, monitor, and disrupt their operations. 
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