You just know that out there is a DVD full of these moronic anti-drug commercials, designed for cheap laughs while high.
I have actually seen some more clever ones. I recall one where two guys in their 20s are smoking up in a basement, and saying something about how they have been smoking for years, and nothing has happened to them … then they are interrupted by “mom” yelling down the stairs at them - the voice-over says “smoke drugs, and nothing will happen to you, too” - the subtext being that if you smoke drugs, you will stagnate and still be partying like teens in mom’s basement years later.
Heh. That reminds me of the time, almost a decade ago, when I was driving a friend’s ten-year-old son somewhere and the talk turned to drugs. Knowing I was dealing with a smart, level-headed kid, I opted for honesty and told him how long I’d smoked pot, what it was like, and my reason for quitting: that while mostly harmless and mildly enjoyable, pot was, in the end, a dead-end waste of time. Time much better spent on reading or doing or in some way actually living instead of vegetating.
Turns out the kid, now 18, never forgot our chat. He’s also never done drugs. No, I don’t claim credit for that, or only a small amount; most of the credit goes to his parents and his own intelligence and character. But it’s good to know that in a small way being honest about the topic instead of resorting to scare tactics did some good.
I mostly agree, with the caveat that dead-end time-wasting is okay in my book as long as it is just a minor pastime - the danger lies in making it the pastime. Moderation is the key; the problem, in this as in many other things, is that moderation is hard to come by - people tend to go to extremes, either advocating total abstinance as a moral imperative, or insisting on a right to total stoner degeneracy.
If I had to give advice to a kid (and I will have to at some point), it would be something along the lines of this: look after your health and your own interests; eat healthy and in moderation, and exercise, because good habits in this respect will serve you well as you get older; only drink or drug in moderation, and so that the drinking or drugging is something which makes a time already set aside for recreation and socialization more enjoyable - never, ever slip into the habit of losing other desired activities for drinking or drugging; and give it up if you see any signs of this.
In other words, the drug advice would be in the context of overall health and lifestyle advice - the keys being to develop good habits and the ability to correct bad habits. To my mind, drugging too much is simply a life, happiness and health damaging bad habit, much the same as being overweight or out of shape. My problems with the current way of handling the matter is it makes a false moral issue out of it.
This has to be one of the silliest advertising campaigns in history. Even negative advertising is advertising, and predictably, anti-drug ads have, if anything, apparently INCREASED drug use.
It’s why people ***start * ** drugs, though, don’t you think?
These commercials can make an impression. I had a freshman quote the “tumor-causing, teeth-staining, smelly puking habit” meme the other day, and that’s been off the air for half a decade.
The kids respond to the gross leeches, so that’s why they use them. Hm. I’ll ask my students today.
I think it may well be a factor. But ultimately, people do drugs because people are curious and enjoy being high. Making of something a big, bad taboo™ just stokes that curiousity in some; and when they discover that adults have been patronizing them and lying to them, they are quick to judge with contempt.
Replace “drugs” with “potato chips” and you will see the point. Potato chips are by and large not good for you; they tend to contain way too much salt, and lots of empty calories. So why do people eat them? Why start eating them? Peer pressure?
Well, maybe in part; but ultimately people eat them because many people like salty snacks.
What is the best way of combatting obesity caused by junk food? Is it to patronize the eaters of junk food by claiming that those who eat it are little more than mindless lemmings? Is it to outright lie about the effects of eating junk food - claiming that, for example, it will cause your brain to explode? Is it to make “eating a single potato chip” morally reprehensible and punishable by imprisonment?
I would prefer to think that the best way is to teach moderation and to spread accurate health information, in the context of an overall education about cultivating healthy and sustainable eating habits. “Yes, you may have snacks, but no more than this small bowl.”
No. They do them because they have heard how much fun they are. They can also see how much fun they are. It is just a fact, drugs get you high and this is fun.
Leeches don’t get you high.
If they want to a real commerical that will do some good, they should do an anti-huffing commerical that shows how easy it is to get real drugs and how they are not that much more expensive.
I think if peer pressure got them to start putting leeches on their bodies, the fact that it gave them no pleasure would cause them the stop. The ad is suggesting that these kids do it all the time.
The high cost of the commercials, the fact that another approach may be more effective, and the blowback that results when the kids decide they’re being condescended or lied to?
Don’t dis the bridge jumping. That is one of the cherished cliches of my childhood. Although in my case it was The Empire State Building. As in, “And I suppose if Maureen and Donna jumped off The Empire State Building, you would have to jump off The Empire State Building”.
(it was my smart ass answers “It’s bad karma to break the suicide pact, Mom” that got me in trouble :))
I have had the good fortune of not seeing this commercial so I can’t comment on it specifically. However, if it’s anything like the other ones, I can’t imagine it’s the least bit effective. I never did drugs, simply because I wasn’t interested. But, I can’t imagine if I were on the fence about it that commercials like that would have done anything to sway me not to.
Well, sure, I can’t say no one ever, because I haven’t witnessed everyone in the world. But I didn’t, and gazillions of other people who know people who smoke but don’t smoke themselves didn’t, and I’ve never witnessed anyone “pressured” to smoke weed.
I did eventually smoke pot, but, as I shared in another thread recently, I made a conscious decision to try it when I was 22 - and I had been actively socializing with stoners for 7 years by that point. The reason I didn’t feel any “peer pressure” was simple: no one wants to waste their weed on the chick who’s not interested. As long as I didn’t rag on them for smoking, we were all cool and had a great time together.
My choice not to smoke before 22 was likewise influenced by a teacher who gave us the straight dope, so to speak, and threw out the recommended curriculum. Literally. She took her little manual and dropped it in the waste paper basket in front of us and proceeded to tell us the good and the bad about all the drugs on our list. The fact that someone was finally honest enough not to insult my intelligence by claiming pot was going to make me violent and destitute actually made me listen to the rest of what she had to say - including that pot may inhibit neural growth in childhood and adolescence. So I decided not to risk it, and I waited.
I have been smoking for almost 10 years now, in several different social circles, and I have NEVER, not one single time, seen anyone “pressured” to smoke. It’s just a stupid claim. Every single person who I’ve seen smoke for the first time does so out of curiosity, most often after being around stoned people and observing what fun it seems we’re having. Every single person who continues after that first time does so because they like the feeling.
“Marijuana - only if you wanna!” is our catchphrase, and we mean it. Smoke or don’t smoke, just don’t bogart the joint, man!
I have to admit, I’m trying to picture some lazy ass stoners who are so baked they argue about who has to get off the couch and pay the pizza guy actually having the energy to “pressure” anyone about anything. It’s making me giggle. And I’m not stoned!
