cannabisnews.com: War on Drugs Lays Waste to Facts 





War on Drugs Lays Waste to Facts 
Posted by FoM on February 19, 2000 at 22:37:11 PT
By Chris Knestrick
Source: Roanoke Times
In light of the revelation of the office of the National Drug Control Policy's regulation of TV content for the "correct drug message," I'd liked to share the following quote from a member of Partnership For A Drug Free America (the private organization that the government sponsors to provide its "correct" message). 
During the research for his book, "Hemp: Lifeline to the Future," author Chris Conrad contacted the PDFA to ask them for facts to support the claims that they had been making regarding the dangers of drugs. After all, this group got in trouble for a TV ad showing the brain waves of a comatose patient and claiming they were the brain waves of someone who had recently smoked marijuana.   The PDFA spokeswoman replied, "We don't need facts. We're shaping attitudes. Facts are not important here. Changing public opinion is what is important" (page 237). Thank you very much, but I for one am not the government's mental putty to be molded as it sees fit.   As Thomas Jefferson said, "The legitimate powers of government reach actions only and not opinions."  By Chris Knestrick, BlacksburgPublished: Friday, February 18, 2000 The Roanoke TimesRelated Articles & Web Site:Chris Conradhttp://www.chrisconrad.com/House Questions Influence on Showshttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4656.shtmlSenators Concerned Over Anti-Drug Ad Deal http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4579.shtmlEditorial: Must See Television, Propaganda - 1/28/2000http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4507.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on February 20, 2000 at 07:51:35 PT
Known by the company they keep
Friends, I daresay that most of us consider it an article of faith that the government lies. In fact, there have been times when it would have been in its' best interest to 'come clean' about relatively minor infractions and take its' lumps, but instead, it allowed a small situation to grow and fester to the point where it became a national disgrace. The latest revelations concerning the ONDCP's 'script approval' of popular TV programs for anti-drug messages so that the entertainment industry could spend more time advertising is a good example. And considering that they used that 'extra time' to advertise for things like alcoholic beverages (a real irony, there; the PFDFA gets a lot of money from breweries and distilleries) is doubly damning.Some things never change. Obviously the PFDFA had never read Macchiavelli's The Prince. Evidently, the people at ONDCP have. Macchiavelli had said that if you don't want to dirty your hands doing the hard work, get yourself some easily fooled... fools. Support them covertly just enough that they think you will back them up, and then send them out to do the hard work - and also get ground up in the process. That way you can say that they did it all by themselves are you are not to blame if they screw things up. And the entertainment industry was used, just like the PFDFA is being used. They have made themselves the catspaw 'auxilliaries' that he spoke of 400 years ago. But more an more people are wising up. More and more reporters are awakening from their slumber caused by uncritically ingesting the soporific pap dispensed by government sources and remembering that they are journalists, again. They are starting, in ones and twos, to question the validity of what was once the Gospel according to Saint Barry. Once that starts, the game is over.The media in this country is a lot like bees; attack one and they all come after you. If Barry-the-Two-Faced and his cronies commit the tactical error of berating the media for questioning his dogma, then they will be on him like white on rice. (And given that, it was the corporate media itself that allied with this jerk, they have to work extra hard to give the impression of not having been too far in his thrall; they'll have to shout even louder than he will. Another irony.)
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