Pubdate: Mon, 13 Jan 2003
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2003 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact:  http://www.boston.com/globe/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Cathy Young
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/campaign.htm (ONDCP Media Campaign)

DRUGS AND TERRORISM AND INSULTING ADS

IT WAS ONLY a matter of time: A new television ad campaign suggests that if 
you drive a sport -utility vehicle, you are helping terrorism by putting 
money in the pockets of oil-producing, terrorism-sponsoring countries like 
Saudi Arabia and Iraq. One of the commercials cuts from a man at a gas 
station to a map of the Middle East to video footage of a terrorist 
training camp, while a little girl's voice says, "These are the terrorists 
who get money from those countries every time George fills up his SUV."

The commercials, which started to air on Sunday, are already causing 
controversy. Some local television stations have refused to run them 
because of concerns about their accuracy. Spokesmen for the auto industry 
have been dismissive, and even Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, a 
leading proponent of tougher fuel efficiency standards, has distanced 
himself from the ads' accusatory message.

While I don't drive an SUV, I have little sympathy for anti-SUV rhetoric 
which often substitutes a quasi-religious zeal to denounce America's sins 
of excessive consumption for facts and reasoned analysis. The ads linking 
SUV ownership to terrorism are the latest manifestation of this mindset, 
and one can point to numerous problems with their premise.

Drivers of small cars fill up at the same gas pumps as do SUV owners; it's 
not just what you drive, it's how much you drive. ("I say if your drive 
your offspring to any superfluous activity besides school, you're 
supporting terrorism," a friend of mine sarcastically suggested.) Critics 
point out that some of the wealthy sponsors of these commercials live in 
vast, oil-heated homes, have fleets of cars, and fly private jets.

In one sense, however, the ads are most welcome - as a parody of the even 
more ludicrous commercials from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, 
which assert that anyone who uses drugs is helping support terrorism.

The "drug money funds terrorism" ad campaign was launched by the government 
a year ago. First, there were the ads in which clean-cut teenagers and 
young adults stared into the camera saying things like "I helped blow up a 
building." A new series of ads, currently on the airwaves, shows two men in 
suits discussing the connection between drugs and terrorism. The younger 
man, who looks rather clueless, tries to argue that it's a complicated 
issue; his older- and wiser-looking companion quickly sets him straight, 
and he concludes, "Not that complicated."

It's hard to think of a more blatant insult to the intelligence of the 
American public than this crass attempt to exploit the tragedy of Sept. 11 
for the antidrug agenda.

Do terrorists sometimes benefit from drug profits? The answer is yes. The 
heroin and opium trade in Central Asia has been identified, in particular, 
as a source of funding for terrorist groups including the Taliban and Al 
Qaeda. But there really is more than one side to this issue. The Taliban 
also profited from our war on drugs, receiving $43 million from the US 
government in 2001 for the purpose of eradicating Afghanistan's 
heroin-producing poppy fields. And whatever one thinks of the various pros 
and cons of drug legalization, it's hard to deny that prohibition is what 
allows criminal groups, including terrorists, to profit from the drug trade.

Meanwhile, as the Drug Policy Alliance notes, the federal authorities have 
yet to come up with conclusive proof of a single case in which proceeds 
from drug dealing in the United States went to Middle Eastern terrorists. 
And some claims about the drug-terror link are downright misleading. Thus, 
drug war zealots have cited evidence that Ecstasy trade has a Middle 
Eastern connection, obviously implying a terrorist link. In fact, the 
organized crime groups allegedly involved in Ecstasy trafficking consist of 
Israelis from the former Soviet Union - who may not be nice guys, of 
course, but can hardly be suspected of funneling money to the Al Qaeda.

Surely, Americans who get locked up for growing marijuana plants in their 
basements have not given any aid or comfort to international terrorists. 
Yet somehow, I doubt that we'll see an ad campaign with the slogan, "Fight 
terrorism - grow your own pot!"

In the past two decades, the US government has expended billions of dollars 
and untold human effort on the War on Drugs. Just when the terrorist threat 
might have made us question the wisdom of this investment, the drug 
warriors quickly piggybacked onto the War against Terrorism. Come to think 
of it, it's not that complicated.

Cathy Young is a contributing editor at Reason magazine. Her column appears 
regularly in the Globe.
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