Pubdate: Tue, 04 Nov 2008
Source: Santiago Times, The (Chile)
Contact: (56-2) 7775376
Copyright: 2009 The Santiago Times
Website: http://www.santiagotimes.cl/santiagotimes/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4946
Author: Matt Dillinger
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

CHILEAN GOVERNMENT TARGETS MARIJUANA IN ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS

Would you believe possible side effects of smoking marijuana include
memory loss, addiction, and an inability to differentiate between an
oven and an icebox? That's what the Chilean government's new anti-drug
commercials say.

With the aim of preventing adolescents from doing drugs, the National
Council for Narcotics Control (CONACE) launched the new campaign
Monday. The campaign, "Return to Being Smart," began because the
government grew worried over findings that suggest kids do not think
there are risks involved in smoking marijuana.

The name, said CONACE Prevention Director Decio Mettifogo, "comes from
marijuana's effects being temporary rather than permanent, thus the
word 'return.'"

The commercials are demonstrations from "a manual for people under the
influence of marijuana" and show simple situations, like tying one's
shoes and finding where to put ice. In the commercials, an adolescent
has great difficulty performing these tasks, supposedly mimicking the
diminished faculties of those under the influence of marijuana.

"The goal," Mettifogo told The Santiago Times, "is not to say that
marijuana is a horrible thing but that it is not harmless."

The campaign will last 45 days and use TV commercials and radio spots
to bring the message to the nation. Officials will also distribute
informational materials throughout the country.

According to the Seventh National Study of Youth Drug Use and
Perception, 16 percent of Chilean students between 8th grade and 12th
grade said they had used marijuana in the last year, and only four out
of 10 thought frequent use of the drug is harmful.

"(Marijuana) is very common . . . but at school, there have been lots
of campaigns about the negative effects of marijuana," 16-year-old
Constanza Vidal told The Santiago Times. She added that she thinks the
campaigns have had the opposite effect from what was intended and
brought more attention to the drug.

Twenty-four percent of Chilean high school seniors reported having
used marijuana within the last month, while only five percent of 8th
graders said they had.

This is significantly lower than in the United States, where the 2007
Monitoring the Future Study reported that almost 38 percent of seniors
had used marijuana in the past year.

CONACE Executive Secretary Maria Teresa Chadwick explained, "The
campaign is directed at families, especially those that have
adolescent children, so they can talk together about the effects of
marijuana.  We are talking about a drug that is addictive."

Chadwick added, "It's worrying that adolescents in our country believe
that marijuana isn't harmful. They are aware of the dangers of alcohol
and tobacco; but the perception of risk associated with marijuana use
has diminished in recent years, because natural things are promoted as
innocuous - despite scientific evidence showing marijuana is not harmless."

Vanessa Carrasco, 26, agrees that people don't see marijuana as
dangerous. "I think the majority of people near my age have tried
marijuana at least once," she told The Santiago Times. "So, at least
in urban society, marijuana use isn't looked at as anything more than
people experimenting when they're young. . . . People don't really
keep consuming it. It's more of a dumb thing you do when you're young.
. . . I've never tried it, and it doesn't interest me . . . but, if
someone else considers it good, it's not my business. "

CONACE also sponsored a recent day of talks on the "neurobiology of
drug addiction," held in conjunction with academics from Chile's
Universidad Catolica. Two hundred 11th-grade students attended.