cannabisnews.com: Anti-Drug Fear Tactic Mixes The Messages





Anti-Drug Fear Tactic Mixes The Messages
Posted by FoM on January 30, 2002 at 07:43:06 PT
By Jackie Burrell, Staff Writer
Source: Contra Costa Times
"Just say no" doesn't cut it and the billions spent on drug education aren't working either, says medical sociologist Marsha Rosenbaum. Addressing a parent education session at Campolindo High School last week, Rosenbaum criticized DARE-type drug education efforts and debunked more than a few myths.Rosenbaum directs San Francisco's Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, advocates for national drug policy reforms, including legalization of medicinal marijuana and changes in both the criminal justice and education arenas. 
"Eighty-one percent of American people have used a drug in the last week. Fifty percent use a prescription drug. Paxil, Zoloft and Prozac use has tripled in the last year. These are psycho-active drugs," she says. "Ritalin? Kids see that one up close ... America is not drug-free and kids know it. When they see a line outside Starbucks, they know what that's for."Despite massive spending and education efforts, "kids are not being prevented from using substances. Somewhere there is a disconnect," she notes, citing statistics showing that 80 percent of high school students will have tried alcohol by the time they graduate, 54 percent have tried marijuana and 12 percent have tried Ecstasy.Rosenbaum's research points to a basic problem with drug education itself. The scare tactics frequently employed by educators and parents have destroyed the message. A student who is told that both marijuana and heroin are terribly addictive and dangerous, soon discovers that marijuana is neither. Credibility disappears, along with the critical information that heroin is indeed terribly addictive and dangerous."Kids have gotten cynical about the message. Exaggerate risks of other substances and we have to pull ourselves out of a credibility hole," she says. "Honesty is the core of drug education."Although Rosenbaum was critical of many drug education programs, the model she favors is a science-based, frank explanation of risks and safety issues, with expert advice available from an on-campus drug counselor. Several parents later commented that expert, drop-in advice is already available to local teens in a far more confidential format. Visits to high school nurses go unremarked by fellow students and passersby.Campolindo nurse Dvora Citron agrees, "No one has any idea (why they're there) : headache, cramps, pregnancy or drugs. And we help facilitate a plan of action for long-term follow-up, not an episodic treatment."A large portion of Rosenbaum's talk focused on Ecstasy, the subject of her book, co-authored with Jerome Beck. Patented in 1912, Ecstasy was prized by 1970s-era psychiatrists for its power to relax patients and lower defenses. Users feel euphoric, accepted and extremely loving. It melts away all that teen angst, says Rosenbaum, describing its recreational appeal. The drug remained legal until 1985, but like many of its illicit colleagues, that ban did nothing to stem its use."A decade later, Ecstasy was part of the rave scene. Increased use, increased availability, increased problems," says Rosenbaum.Other than increases in seratonin levels, the scientific basis for Ecstasy's effects is still not completely understood, but one of the most serious side effects is a rapid and severe increase in body temperature. The result can be catastrophic in an overheated and dehydrated individual, i.e., the typical rave attendee."Paxil, Prozac increase seratonin, but it takes two to four weeks to see a beneficial effect. There's something else going on with Ecstasy, some modulating effect on the pleasure centers," says Moraga pharmacist and parent Pat Thompson. "The worst case scenario is brain damage, respiratory arrest, but most of the studies, when they're seeing kids in the emergency room, they're coming from a rave."Dr. Alex Stalcup discusses "Your Teen and Addiction" next week in the Miramonte cafeteria, as part of the parent education series. The free lecture begins at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 7.Source: Contra Costa Times (CA)Author: Jackie BurrellPublished: Wednesday, January 30, 2002Copyright: 2002 Contra Costa Newspapers Inc.Website: http://www.contracostatimes.com/Feedback: http://www.contracostatimes.com/contact_us/letters.htmRelated Articles & Web Site:Drug Policy Alliance http://www.lindesmith.org/Sentencing Guidelines Toughened for Ecstasy http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9087.shtmlScientists Oppose Punishing 'Ecstasy' More Harshlyhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9056.shtmlExamining The Use And Abuse of Ecstasyhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8544.shtml
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Comment #14 posted by Jose Melendez on January 30, 2002 at 13:49:57 PT:
The truth shall set us free
Right on Ddc, TroutMask, all of you here have helped me see the way...
from:http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessage?topicID=105.topic
NY TIMES EDITORIAL
Gen. Barry McCaffrey, President Clinton's director of national drug policy, has declared flatly that underage drinking is the single biggest drug problem among adolescents, and is intimately linked to the use of illegal
drugs. But as things stand now, the $195 million national media campaign that McCaffrey is running this year to dissuade youngsters from using illicit drugs will not spend a penny in Federal funds to warn teenagers about the Dangers of drinking.
The White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy offers two reasons for not including alcohol in the antidrug campaign. The first is that it would dilute the basic message, which is that kids should avoid illegal drugs. That is strange reasoning, given the solid evidence showing that teenage drinking is often a gateway to illicit drug use. Indeed, the first goal of the White House's national drug strategy is to "educate and enable America's youth to reject illegal drugs as well as alcohol and tobacco." It also notes that adults who started drinking as children are nearly eight times more likely to use cocaine than adults who did not do so.
The second reason is that Mr. McCaffrey believes at the statute granting his office authority to combat controlled substances leaves him no room to target alcohol. That rigid interpretation is open to question. In any case, the statutory problem can be quickly remedied by legislation.
Representatives Lucille Allard, Democrat of California, and Frank Wolf, Republican of Virginia, have introduced a measure that would explicitly give General McCaffrey the authority to include underage drinking among the campaign's targets.
Ms. Allard and Mr. Wolf have lined up powerful support from groups like the American Medical Association. The National Beer Wholesalers' Association opposes the measure, as does the Partnership for a Drug Free America, a nonprofit coalition of advertising firms that has been working on the campaign. The Partnership argues that an antialcohol message would dilute the antidrug message, but some of the Partnership's members earn lucrative fees for promoting alcohol products. from:http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=33931
Outside normal channels
The drug office will use the Super Bowl positioning to break a new campaign, developed by WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather, New York. It is the first major effort created since the start of the drug office advertising program in 1997 that goes outside the normal channels of the Partnership for a Drug Free America. 
Two 30-second spots produced by award-winning iconoclastic British director Tony Kaye suggest illegal  
drug sale profits may help fuel terrorism. Neither the drug office nor Ogilvy would discuss the ads, and the drug office also declined to say why it didn't develop the creative with the Partnership.
Arrest Prohibition - Drug War is TREASON!
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Comment #13 posted by DdC on January 30, 2002 at 13:23:54 PT
Sorry Doc But We're Dropping the INE's
Marsha is one of my heroines...She's a hero, same as for me.¶8)Drop the INE's
I wonder if this has significance or relative to I.G.Farben?coca(ine)
methamphedam(ine)
cod(ine)
fluor(ine)
chlor(ine)
morph(ine)
dexidr(ine)
thoroz(ine)
hero(ine)old eng
keros(ine)
gasol(ine)
w(ine)? ¶8)Thanks for having the guts to be on the right side Doc Russo...Boardwellers,I'm just sooooo thankful I was pre-DARE brainwashings, sorta. I also think disrupting those classes would have been a fun public service...Would a beat getting suspended from 5th grade for wearing a sweatshirt and blue jeans in protest.As for "religious" messages? Many "religious" organzations have a very large stake in WoD and their own biblical passages used against them will drive that stake right through their naive rapidly turning black hearts! Besides it only "works religiously" on "believers" so you don't have to worry. It isn't a magic spell. Just words. ¶8) 
And if it "works" for them what of it? I think the entire message of legalization is tolerance. And as far as "beliefs" nothing can be debated, proven or discredited if its censored...Though this isn't really the place for wild ad hominum debates I think certain "lessons" can be learned from others quotes, regardless of their affiliations. And thats all biblical passages are. When it applies to the article it may teach others the motives behind and myth's of cannabis prohibition. Same as the forefathers quotes and despots and tyrants and D.E.A.th side by side saying the same old shit... I know its hard for them to find argument for the "God created every grass and seed and hot damn it was good sayeth tse, one! Jesus taught to expose the religious hypocrites and needless to say Jesus was not a Christian or a WoD Junkie Puritan casting stones. But his or others words if apropriate to the article is a tool. Not gathering converts as a DARE class would, in shackles. But as a strong message to the hypocrites perpetuating this chemical bombardment and cannabis elimination. The D.E.A.th mongers all tie their morality justifications of WoD to their religion and showing them clearly with their own words how harmfully fascist and cruel they are has to lay heavily on their hearts when their heads hit the pillows. And regardless of calling it morals or ethics, its the same message to Atheist WoD Junkies. Who fear the thought of cannabis turning them "spiritual" as I believe it did when it and the other enthneogens started the "religions". Thanks Jose, who clearly can see...Peace, Love and Liberty
DdCThe assassins of youth...DARE/PFDA
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessage?topicID=105.topic
Who Sponsors the Assassins of Youth
http://boards.marihemp.com/boards/politics/media/36/36796.gif
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Comment #12 posted by Jose Melendez on January 30, 2002 at 11:40:32 PT:
aw shucks...
idbsne1, thanks so much, I 'm touched...
here is another myth debunked:from:http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n150/a07.html?397
LTE: Hotbox Hot Air While it is true that alcohol and cannabis are economic substitutes with cross-price elasticities the shift from alcohol to cannabis is, on balance, a life-saver. Where cannabis use goes up, alcohol use goes down, resulting in a net decrease in alcohol- and other drug-related motor vehicle accidents and emergency room admissions. 
Peace, Jose Melendez
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Comment #11 posted by idbsne1 on January 30, 2002 at 11:10:30 PT
I LOVE you Jose!!!!!
Plutonically , of course...:) All your info and passion....I truly appreciate it... idbsne1ps...kudos goes to everyone on here!!!!
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Comment #10 posted by Jose Melendez on January 30, 2002 at 10:37:41 PT:
calm down "markjc", this is relevant conversa
That "religious babble" I posted shows that there is and has always been hypocrisy from those who just say no. And posting it here (with my REAL name, BTW) gives cannabis activists more tools to ward off and successfully debate prohibitionists, who often frame arguments against marijuana as if they have some moral standing.(grin) So if that seems irrelevant to you, maybe you need to go burn one. One joint that is; I do not endorse burning Bibles, in my opinion it is the supression of information from and through the mass media that keeps the current "social state of fear supportable"...(good question E_J) 
As a matter of fact, by placing the link to searchable texts of various bibles, my intention was to encourage others to note that the various editorial changes that have occurred in the "Word of God" have economic and social consequences. By exposing these hypocritical lies and their impact upon history I hope to change the world.
Thanks for your comment, though; it helped me think more carefully about how to ARREST PROHIBITION."Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress."1 Timothy 4:15
Arrest Prohibition - Drug War is TREASON!
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Comment #9 posted by TroutMask on January 30, 2002 at 10:34:12 PT
markjc
markjc: "Religious babble" is partially to blame for the mess we're in (marijuana prohibition) and "religious babble" can be VERY effective in improving the situation.Whether sincere or not, religious beliefs are VERY OFTEN the reason that people resist any changes to existing anti-marijuana laws. We can use religion to convert the religious who help perpetuate these laws. Giving a prohibitionist religious person a quote from the Bible that contradicts or conflicts with their prohibitionist views can be a HIGHLY effective tool for changing their opinion and garnering support for our cause. Conversely, ignoring religion entirely, or worse, rejecting any religious opinion out-of-hand is counterproductive and will get us nowhere at best.I'm not "religious" and certainly not Christian, but I believe we need recognize the role that religion plays in many peoples lives, the role that religion has had and continues to have in maintaining the current prohibitionist mindset, and the potential use of religious doctrine to overcome this mindset.-TM
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Comment #8 posted by Lehder on January 30, 2002 at 10:14:30 PT
some advice for the son who smokes weed
Quit hiding it. Turn your mother on. Hold your ground. Tell your parents the truth and stick to it. Show them how touse the Internet. Print some of the articles on cancer, the Bill of Rights and the economy for them. Insist that smoking marijuana is beneficial, not indicative of brain disease or degeneracy. Persist. It's up to you, not Canada or your mother.
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Comment #7 posted by Jose Melendez on January 30, 2002 at 10:14:04 PT:
File this under OOPS!
fromhttp://www.un.int/usa/99_076.htmOur strategy focuses on cutting drug use by half over the next decade. Nearly 6 billion
  dollars of the 18 billion is devoted to demand reduction this year. (This does not include
  state and local expenditures or private, voluntary efforts of many non-governmental
  organizations.) Our priority is educating youth, parents, and key mentors and we have
  launched a 2 billion dollar anti-drug youth media campaign to counter those who seek to
  glamorize drug use which we believe has already begun to show results. 
  Strengthening domestic law enforcement efforts is also vital to our antidrug campaign.
  Sadly, almost sixty percent of all those in federal prisons are there for drug-related
  offenses. This is unacceptable to the United States Government and the American people,
  and we are determined to break this cycle between drugs and violence.
  Targeting international sources of supply is another key element of our comprehensive
  strategy. Since 1993, the United States has focused on supporting institutions in the drug
  source countries that address the most critical drug threats: the organizations, drug
  money, and drug-producing crops. 
  Many nations are achieving measurable results towards eliminating or significantly
  reducing illicit drug crops by the year 2008. In South Asia, the picture is mixed.
  Pakistan has made appreciable gains in reducing opium poppy cultivation and vigorously
  eradicating crops. One of the unfortunate consequences of national versus international
  action is that not all of the neighboring nations have taken forceful action. Drug
  criminals have exploited this vulnerability and the impoverished people of Afghanistan are
  being enticed to produce ever more opium poppy, while the Taliban tax and profit from the
  drug trade. The international community, and especially Afghanistan's immediate neighbors,
  must act quickly against this growing menace.-Statement by Rand Beers, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, in the Third Committee, Fifty-Fourth UN General Assembly, on Agenda Item 107, Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and Agenda Item 108, International Drug Control, October 18, 1999.
From:http://www.smh.com.au/news/0110/23/world/world9.htmlTuesday, October 23, 2001 ...Reports from Afghanistan received last week by the United Nations show that farmers are planting or preparing to plant opium poppies in at least two key growing areas of the country. Recent American intelligence reports also suggest that the year-old ban may be eroding as the military assault continues, US officials said.
"They may have told people they can plant, they may tell people nothing and allow them to plant, or there may be enough chaos with the war that it won't matter what the Taliban says," said the State Department's senior official for international narcotics issues, R. Rand Beers. "We had a situation that showed promise that is now headed in absolutely the wrong direction."
Even a total collapse of the ban might not have an immediate impact on the availability of opium in illegal drug markets around the world.
From:http://www.cannabistimes.com/current/war.htmlU.S. Seeks Drug War Expansion in Andean Region 
"Plan Colombia is a plan for peace. From the beginning we have stated that there is no military solution to Colombia's problems." 
- Assistant Secretary of State, Rand Beers
From:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/11/thread11627.shtmlAlthough the Taliban was effective in greatly reducing poppy planting, many officials believe the leadership maintained stockpiles of opium and used the ban to limit the supply and increase the drug's value. Assistant Secretary of State Rand Beers said earlier this month that the Taliban did not ban opium farming "out of kindness, but because they wanted to regulate the market: They simply produced too much opium."
Source: Washington Post December 24, 2001 
Arrest Prohibition
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Comment #6 posted by markjc on January 30, 2002 at 09:39:30 PT:
what?
keep your religious babble to more relevant conversation.
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Comment #5 posted by Jose Melendez on January 30, 2002 at 09:13:45 PT:
 in later times some will abandon the faith 
1 Timothy 4
Instructions to Timothy 
1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. 
See these same passages cross referenced in multiple versions of the Bible:
http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=1+Timothy+4&NIV_version=yes&NASB_version=yes&NLT_version=yes&KJV_version=yes&NKJV_version=yes&RSV_version=yes&KJ21_version=yes&NIV-IBS_version=yes&WE_version=yes&YLT_version=yes&DARBY_version=yes&showfn=yes&language=english
Drug War Tools: Online Bible Search - Multiple Bibles!
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Comment #4 posted by E_Johnson on January 30, 2002 at 09:04:42 PT
How long can people maintain this fear?
I'm wondering how long a social state of fear is supportable through the mass media?There must be some natural rules (I'm a physicist, laws of nature and all that) for how long a social mode of fear propagation can last. Well, it's not spontaneous, it is being pumped with energy (money) from somewhere. The usual suspects.But can the masses just absorb and recycle that fear forever, or are there limits to being scared to death because your son knows people who smoke weed?Maybe NORML should campaign against this particular commercial, because it is shown all day long on ABC, over and over and over again.Why should anyone be scared to death of people who smoke weed?And why should such a message be broadcast thirty times a day every day on a major network?
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Comment #3 posted by p4me on January 30, 2002 at 08:56:56 PT
Dr. Russo
I was wondering about free materials that one could get off the net such as the one you mentioned in comment. I would like to make a few tee shirts and maybe some refrigerator magnets if I could find some material. A new t-shirt at the Goodwill store is a dollar and with another $1 you can buy the Iron-on paper at Staples. I might print about 10 copies of that "Safety First" and put in my car. I have friends that would read it if you handed it to them. Hurl on the schedule one lie. How many times in the history of the Washington Post have the words "Schedule One Lie" appearred. How many times will the words "Schedule One Lie" appear in the month of January in the LA Times or the New York Times. It is time to get rid of the elected officials that have stood by and let the SOL live. Vote Against All Incumbents especially the sheriffs that abandoned serve and protect to seize and execute and want less paperwork in their civil property seizures. If you are running for office for the first time why wouldn't you adopt a Vote Against All Incumbents attitude? What would the government do to an illegal Mexican growing MJ on Federal or State Park land? The US government is going to spend more on patrolling the Canadian border than the Canadians do on military defense nationally and they do not think that them sneaky Mexicans that like to eat at least once a day and have a pair of shoes and something better than a loin cloth aren't going to grow MJ here. Come on Mexico. Come on Canada. Come on the citizens of this country. Overgrow the government and free the weed. 
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Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on January 30, 2002 at 08:07:58 PT
That racist hate commercial has to go
My son knows people who smoke weed and it scares me to death.This is what a voice that sounds like James Earl Jones says as a young man -- with what looks like about a year's worth of dreadlocks growing on his head -- appears on screen.I don't suppose the ONDCP understands the irony -- and ignorance -- of showing a dreadlocked young man being portrayed as someone who only KNOWS people who smoke weed. The kid looks like a big Bob Marley fan, and how many Bob marley fans don't smoke weed?So this guy is really essentially scared to death of his own son.And that's a very weird creepy message for any commercial to be spreading.Especially when they're dealing with black men. It eems like a racist divide and conquer message to me.Black men should be scared to death of other black men? Because they smoke weed? That's a new twist on the old racist game!
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Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo MD on January 30, 2002 at 08:05:21 PT:
Heroine
Marsha is one of my heroines. Everyone should download her pamphlet, "Safety First" and distribute it to teachers, schools, judges and politicians:http://www.drugpolicy.org/library/safetyfirst.html
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