Pubdate: Sat, 09 Jan 2010 Source: Barrie Examiner (CN ON) Copyright: 2010, Osprey Media Group Inc. Contact: http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/feedback1/LetterToEditor.aspx Website: http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2317 Page: 5 Author: Russell Barth TEENS TOO SMART TO BUY ANTI-DRUG ADS A kid of about 13 wanders through a house party. He goes outside where there are a quartet of pot smokers who offer him a joint. He thinks for a moment, then there are all these quick flashes of him with pills, hiding stuff under his bed, getting into fights with his family, falling asleep in class and getting busted at school. The ad implies that trying pot once will turn you into a full-on drug fiend within days. This flies in the face of all science on the subject, but since when were facts used in anti-drug ads? So the kid just shrugs and goes back into the party -- ostensibly to eat more junk food and, quaff 'energy drinks', and listen to L'il Wayne and Snoop Dogg. Does anyone really think kids will believe this fear-mongering balderdash? In the 1980s, when I was a teen, they tried to stuff all this 'Just Say No' stuff down our throats and all it did was make us think that adults were morons. If this new ad campaign is anywhere near as effective as previous government-run, anti-marijuana messages, we should see the number of teen drug users increase 10% within the next few years. Well done, Mr. Harper. Russell Barth Patients Against Ignorance and Discrimination on Cannabis Nepean. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart