cannabisnews.com: U.S. Uploads Anti-Drug Videos To YouTube





U.S. Uploads Anti-Drug Videos To YouTube
Posted by CN Staff on September 18, 2006 at 16:56:30 PT
By Ted Bridis, Associated Press
Source: Associated Press
Washington, DC -- The Bush administration is taking its fight against illegal drugs to YouTube, the trendy Internet video service that already features clips of wacky, drug-induced behavior and step-by-step instructions for growing marijuana plants.The decision to distribute anti-drug, public service announcements and other videos over YouTube represents the first concerted effort by the U.S. government to influence customers of the popular service, which shows more than 100 million videos per day.
The administration was expected to announce the decision formally on Tuesday. It said it was not paying any money to load its previously produced videos onto YouTube's service, so the program is effectively free."If just one teen sees this and decides illegal drug use is not the path for them, it will be a success," said Rafael Lemaitre, a spokesman for the drug office.The government's YouTube videos include a previously televised, 30-second ad of a teenager running from a snarling dog and bemoaning pressure from his friends to smoke marijuana."Then today, they said I should try to out run Tic Tic, the lumber-yard dog," the teen says. "And I don't think I can. I'm an idiot."YouTube, a San Mateo, Calif.-based startup, has become one of the Internet's hottest properties since two 20-something friends started the company 19 months ago. The free service allows users to share and view videos, most of which are amateurishly produced and include clips of young people singing and dancing - usually badly.The government's short public service announcements - all of which were produced previously for television - are highly polished. They will compete for viewership against hundreds of existing, drug-related videos that include shaky footage of college-age kids smoking marijuana and girls dancing wildly after purportedly using cocaine. Other YouTube videos describe how to grow marijuana and how to cook with it."Welcome to the great experiment," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project. He predicted computer-savvy critics of U.S. drug policies will quickly edit the government's videos to produce parodies and distribute those on YouTube. "This seems pretty new and pretty adventurous."The government linked its videos with the terms "war on drugs," "peer-pressure," "marijuana," "weed," "ONDCP" and "420," so anyone searching for those words on YouTube could find its anti-drug messages. All the videos were associated with a YouTube account named "ONDCPstaff" and identified as an 18-year-old living in Washington. The term 420 is a popular reference for marijuana.Michael Bugeja, who studies how different groups use the Internet, said the White House plan is misdirected because online video services don't afford serious consideration to weighty topics."It's the wrong forum and the wrong target," said Bugeja, an author and director of the journalism school at Iowa State University.On The Net: U.S. anti-drug videos: http://www.YouTube.com/ONDCPSource: Associated Press (Wire)Author: Ted Bridis, Associated Press Published: Monday, September 18, 2006Copyright: 2006 Associated Press CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #27 posted by FoM on September 20, 2006 at 21:32:15 PT
Dankhank
Thank you for trying. I don't know why I am concerned about bit torrent. I taught myself how to make a basic web page and upload it but I stopped trying new things. If I could get a live performance from the CSNY tour I might get up the nerve. I still have scaffolding in front of my satellite dish so I lose my connecting easier. I might need to wait until they are finished and it's removed to try downloading much of anything.
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Comment #26 posted by Dankhank on September 20, 2006 at 21:14:06 PT
torrents
I had a great post earlier about all this torrent stuff, but a power-out had me lose it.I'll try again ...soon
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Comment #25 posted by FoM on September 20, 2006 at 11:21:07 PT
Dankhank 
I can't even help because I have never had the nerve to try bit torrent. I would love to have a live performance of the CSNY tour but I have no idea how to do it or is it safe to do. It's way to complicated for me.
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Comment #24 posted by Dankhank on September 20, 2006 at 11:20:30 PT
Hey!!!
It's there .....http://www.mininova.org/search/?search=History+of+MarijuanaI should also say that the DiVX copy I have is SUPERB in quality.
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Comment #23 posted by Dankhank on September 20, 2006 at 11:17:45 PT
Mininova
Whig ...I am familiar with mininova and have used it for many items...What I lack, apparently, is the knowledge to create a bittorent file, and haven't found any knowledge of how to do that, if I need to do it, or where to send it to have it done for me and all.I guess I'll ressearch that a bit more ...I know that I have searched for it on Mininova, before under "Grass" to no success. Perhaps I'll try a search under "History of Marijuana."
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Comment #22 posted by whig on September 20, 2006 at 11:15:15 PT
Should have listed this here
This is one of the ONDCP ads that is up on YouTube with some commentary by me.http://cannablog.wordpress.com/2006/09/20/propaganda-transformation/
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Comment #21 posted by whig on September 20, 2006 at 11:08:10 PT
Dankhank
Mininova.org
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Comment #20 posted by Dankhank on September 20, 2006 at 10:25:56 PT:
Grass
My copy of Grass is better than the one I just downloaded from Youtube.Mine is in DiVX format and runs fine with the DiVX player that can be downloaded at:http://www.divx.com/or by getting the DiVX codecs for WindowsMedia Player, available at the same place, just follow links under support button at top of page.Alternately, I have a copy of the Div3 codecs for Win98/2k/XP on my HD, and can email them to any who want them, but you can simply search for "Div3 codecs for Windows Media Player and find them.If I had a place to put them and the movie for general download I would do it ... any ideas, ya'll? 
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Comment #19 posted by kaptinemo on September 19, 2006 at 18:28:18 PT:
They really, truly don't get it
Yes, they will be mocked. Yes, they will be humiliated. But what else is new?Do they honestly believe that anyone with three brains cells to click together isn't going to see this bald-faced attempt at manipulation for what it is? Kids have been exposed literally from the cradle to behavior modification techniques , and if they can't say it or spell it, they sure know it from their experiences with it, at home, at school, amongst their peers, etc..I expect some really hilarious put-downs of the ads within a few days. And your Congresscritters and Sin-a-tors should be reminded of how much (1 BILLION) has already been wasted by these lame-o ads. Ads already proven to be ineffective. Ads that will now be broadcast, not only to America, but the world. Ads whose farcical nature make American policymakers who wish to be taken seriously on this issue look like hopelessly outclassed fools.Thank you, Johnny Pee and all the wonks at ONDCP; more stupid ideas have been shot down with derisive laughter than bullets. And this move will prove it.
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Comment #18 posted by Dankhank on September 19, 2006 at 14:00:47 PT
Grass
I've had a copy of this for years and I have given copies to the local newspaper, politicians, and friends It's so true ...At the end of it it shows a bit of the 1999 NYC Marijuana Million March which I attended, but alas, doesn't show me.It should be seen everywhere.
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on September 19, 2006 at 12:59:22 PT
JR Bob Dobbs 
I thought that YouTube would be a good thing because people would be able to have a say about the ads by posting a comment and giving it a rating. It shows that they don't want any advice. They just want to preach but no concern about how people feel.
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Comment #16 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on September 19, 2006 at 12:26:43 PT
Low ratings
Most videos have only one star - all of them, as a matter of fact, except the two that don't allow ratings. There were also two that had been pulled by the user, which I guess means the ONDCP realized allowing ratings was a dumb idea, so they pulled them and will re-up them without allowing ratings. Too bad, because unlike other ways to get these ads, YouTube allows people to tell the ONDCP exactly what they think of them.
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Comment #15 posted by whig on September 19, 2006 at 10:09:07 PT
Waiting to inhale
I like how this came out, and I didn't have much time to write this morning....http://cannablog.wordpress.com/2006/09/19/make-it-stop-hurting/
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Comment #14 posted by global_warming on September 19, 2006 at 07:42:41 PT
has any one watched this video?
The History of Marijuana - Woody Harrelson
http://tinyurl.com/zg7yd
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Comment #13 posted by mayan on September 19, 2006 at 05:24:08 PT
Off Topic
Waiting to inhale:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/09/19/EDG7RL80IV1.DTL
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Comment #12 posted by mayan on September 19, 2006 at 04:26:00 PT
ONDCP
I guess they're not content with their ads being the laughing-stock of tv and radio. They are just asking to get slammed with the truth. Let em' have it!THE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN...Banned From The Classroom - 911 Physics Scientist Who 
Proved Thermite Involved In WTC Demolitions:
http://www.rense.com/general73/ZZIBN.HTMDouble-checking 9/11 theory: 
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/193479/Attacks On 911 Researchers Growing:
http://www.rense.com/general73/atck.htm"Top 25 Censored Stories" include Prof. Jones' paper on WTC collapse:
http://911blogger.com/node/29749/11 SPECIAL PROSECUTOR NEEDED:
http://www.freemarketnews.com/Analysis/94/5982/911.asp?wid=94&nid=5982Osama bin Laden, among the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives": Why was he never indicted for his alleged role in 9/11?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20060917&articleId=3246Taking to the streets on 9/11:
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1211.shtml
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Comment #11 posted by OverwhelmSam on September 19, 2006 at 02:56:30 PT
How Pathetic
Why doesn'[t ONDCP just quit already. I guess they enjoy the end result of pissing in the wind. Vanity, my favorite sin. ~ Lucifer
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Comment #10 posted by Max Flowers on September 18, 2006 at 23:23:37 PT
Don't even worry, whig
They are beaten already, and they know it. They're just finding ways to spend all that federal money. Just like the article says. they will be instantly mocked and parodied, and they know this.You're just one of thousands who are going to ridicule them. Have some fun with it. They're a bunch of losers.
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Comment #9 posted by whig on September 18, 2006 at 23:03:57 PT
Hope
Yeah, I know. I'm just psyching myself up to go toe-to-toe here. I don't want to have any fear when I do it, either. It's just going to be straight-ahead. And I have no idea what to say yet. I never seem to know until it just comes out somehow.What's nice is that the ONDCP has helpfully provided the scripts along with the videos.
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Comment #8 posted by Hope on September 18, 2006 at 21:31:38 PT
"Just hope folks have my back too."
You know we'd want to be able to protect you, but how could we? The only thing we can do is speak out against and try to change the laws...but we can't stop them from hurting or taking any of us away, as far as I can see.It makes me sick.People who would do what they do to other people over a plant make me sick, too. They're beasts, cruel and powerful beasts...is how I see it.
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Comment #7 posted by Dankhank on September 18, 2006 at 20:11:56 PT
Whig ...
I once sent a CRL to the current drug czar, at the time, McCrapperty and included a note stating that I sent it to him so that he would forever know that I would now that if he ever said that Cannabis has no medical value I would know that he was lying.Never heard back.I also call the ONDCP one time, Phone: (800) 666–3332, notice the 666 in the number, and mocked a worker there about the study regarding the flawed study of capauchin monkeys. They were wired up, fed cocaine till hooked, changed to saline water, which they refused, then given THC which they gleefully took. This study stated that this was proof that THC was addictive. It was a fun call.No clue if they are watching me ...Who Knows ...
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Comment #6 posted by whig on September 18, 2006 at 18:59:23 PT
ONDCP videos
They are already up on YouTube. I want to be a little careful with how I do this because I am going to get some attention, probably. I'm a little nervous to be honest, because when I critique the ONDCP they are going to be looking back. Also although I may be in a safe place now, I could be in for some bullshit if and when I am ever in a group that gets busted.The truth is though that I am as safe as anyone could ask to be to do this job, and if it isn't perfectly safe, well nothing is, and if I don't do something and say what needs to be said then nobody will. Eff it.Just hope folks have my back too.
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Comment #5 posted by whig on September 18, 2006 at 18:54:30 PT
mayan
That's important. I posted it too.
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Comment #4 posted by mayan on September 18, 2006 at 18:35:14 PT
Strip Searches
Sorry if this has already been posted...Congress Considering Strip Searching Students:
http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/091806stripsearch.cfm
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Comment #3 posted by whig on September 18, 2006 at 18:33:30 PT
Oooh
I can run a fun series on this, posting the YouTube videos on the cannablog with comments.
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Comment #2 posted by goneposthole on September 18, 2006 at 17:24:03 PT
Targeting the wrong substance
It should be Prozac.Prozac was linked to 27 deaths before it was marketed in December of 1987.Prozac must be removed as a prescription medicine.Young people are not stupid. They know cannabis is safe and effective. They would rather use cannabis than a killer drug.
Prozac linked to deaths
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on September 18, 2006 at 16:58:16 PT
This Could Be Interesting
As long as they allow the comments on YouTube without censorship as long as no one is being really nasty this could be a good thing.
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