Pubdate: Tue, 12 Mar 2002
Source: The Daily Star (Lebanon)
Contact:  http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/547
Author: Hadi Khatib

ANTI-DRUG AD WARNS OF 'DEGRADATION'

But Some Say Message Is Blurred

Dakhilkon Afyoun (I Beg You Opium) is a song by Ghassan Rahbani that 
plays the length of a four-minute commercial produced by the Interior 
Ministry as part of a nationwide awareness campaign on the dangers of 
drug use.

The television ad shows a number of young addicts, including Rahbani, 
singing about finding refuge in drugs as a way of escaping problems. 
Rahbani finds himself arrested by the Internal Security Forces and 
pleads with them in total agony: "I beg you opium, I beg you opium!" 
when the officer responds that it is against the law and that drugs 
will degrade him.

The message identified from the commercial is about degradation and 
it lies threefold. First, the person feels degraded once arrested and 
exposed to the society. Second, the person is further degraded when 
his addiction overtakes all his other needs and he starts begging for 
the drug and receives no compensation for his desires. And the final 
degradation takes place when the addiction robs him of a future.

Despite the obvious interpretation of the television ad, As-Safir 
newspaper recently published a rather critical article which called 
on the Interior Ministry to withdraw the commercial for fear of 
"enticing drug use and teaching people how to use them." The author 
called the ministry's awareness attempt a "mistake" and urged it to 
seek the expertise of psychologists before undertaking such a project 
wrongly and having their expenses go to waste.

The awareness campaign is not restricted to television. Some 10,200 
billboards are already posted around schools, universities, hospitals 
and entertainment outlets, with a similar message of "drugs are 
harmful and will degrade you." That number will double over the next 
few months, according to ministry sources.

The Interior Ministry, which had in early February announced that it 
planned a full and comprehensive eradication of illicit drug 
cultivation, kept its word and completed phase one of that campaign 
on March 5, destroying an estimated 5,160 dunums of cannabis and 
poppy plants. In a statement earlier last week, the ministry said it 
would undertake phase two of the campaign within 15 days of 
completing phase one.

An official source told The Daily Star that the ministry could not 
wait for donor programs and other international aid. The 
responsibility to provide alternative income to those losing their 
livlihood lies with the government, the source said.

According to the Lebanese Center for Agricultural Research and 
Studies, 2001 saw the re-emergence of 40,000 dunums of cannabis.
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MAP posted-by: Josh