I laughed it at the time, even though I wasn’t a drug user–growing up in the Bronx in the '70s took care of that impulse for me for all time. However, I do admire it for one thing: addressing the demand side for once. No, the poor schmuck who just got his crop dusted with poison should not be growing coca, but the rich white jerk who’ll pay through the nose for it warps the econony of the schmuck’s entire country and gets off scot-free?
“Just say no” may be good advice, but its effectiveness is another matter entirely. The crack explosion occurred on Reagan’s watch despite the “Just say no” campaign, and I don’t see any significant change in drug use in the 20+ years since then. So I’m inclined to think Nancy would have been just as effective if she had said “Drugs? Slippperveldt die Bleiderhund!”
I don’t think either one drank heavily. I know for a fact Ronald Reagan was an extremely light drinker.
The stories from his White House days say that, at cocktail receptions, he’d get a single orange blossom from the bartender and nurse it all night.
Well said, rjung.
The problem isn’t the “say no” but the “Just”. Telling kids not to do drugs is fine but it’s not nearly enough.
The “Just Say No” hype was at its height just around the time I discovered pot- at the age of eighteen. I wondered why I had resisted for so long…
I used to have this theory that in any given group of kids you saw at Bonnie Doon’s or wherever in their “Just Say No” t-shirts, there was a sizeable subgroup who would sneak 'round back to toke up before joining the rest of the gang for ice cream.
And Bonnie Doon’s had the best ice cream. And the sodas- I loved their Choco-Mint sodas. And Bonnie Burgers just rocked, and they had great fries…
now look what you’ve done. You’ve gone and given me the munchies. More specifically, you’ve given me an intense craving for food that can only be gotten at a restaraunt/ice cream parlor that is more than two thousand miles away.
Shame on you, gytlaf2000
From what I’ve read, Nancy started the “Just Say No” thing as a “hobby”-she was trying to improve her image, which was that of a frivolous, extravagant socialite.
This was something that allowed her to look like she cared, with minimal effort.
Personally, it probably DID reach some of us-as I was only maybe five years old when it started. But then, what kind of drugs is a five year old living in the suburbs going to do-Flinstone vitamens?
A friend used to joke that she was a raving hypocrite. “Just look at her eyes!” he’d say. “Tell me she isn’t totally cranked up on something!”
In fact, more often than I’ve seen her wear this deer-in-the-headlights expression that looks as if she’s gonna be wired for days.
Here’s one :eek:
I believe that was what they called “The gaze.”
Doesn’t she look like Ms. Finch from Follow That Bird in that photo?
Well, maybe he ate her.
I was 6 when The Reagans entered the White House, and was heavily exposed to the Just Say NO campaign. The campaign, as far as I remember, focused on thwe fact that drugs can kill you or mess up your life, and they drilled it into our heads that we were to avoid them at all costs, and it worked. In third grade, my friend and I were horrified when we found his sisters pot stash so we flushed it down the toilet and told his mom (despite the fact I wasn’t sure he was telling the truth - it was a bag of sticks, leaves and seeds - couldn’t be that evil drug I’ve heard about). I remember getting upset and leaving a party in 6th or 7th grade becasue someone was offering up cigarettes. Fast forward to high school, where I was a little more challenging of authority (as many of us will be at that age) The just say no program had nothing on peer pressure. I had no real information about what drugs did aside from ‘kill you or mess up your life’, so I experimented with some pretty varied drugs, and continued to ‘experiment’ pretty heavily throughout college. Although I can’t really regret the majority of the things I did, I can gaurantee you that there were some things and situations I would have stayed away from had I had more info. After I was using pot with little to no side effects, all of those other evil drugs seemed that much less dangerous. Drugs didn’t end up ruining my life, but like I said, I made some stupid decisions that could have turned out worse. That is what the just say no program did for me in regards to my attitude toward drugs.
Well, this has been fascinating! Thanks for all the posts! I guess I was just one of the risk-averse “goodie-goodies” who never would have tried drugs anyway. I was a teenager in the 1970s and I remember every couple of weeks we would have one of those “drug-awareness” seminars that would explain what various drugs would do to you. I saw things in terms of “worst-case scenario” – winding up in the gutter if I ever sampled any of these substances, so I stayed away. I do remember some of the hardcore druggies would sit in the back and snicker all the way through the presentation (actually, come to think of it, they were like that in all the other classes too). I just felt at the time that the “drug seminars” were a big waste of time-- I just wanted to go back to class! The already-drug-addled people, however, just sneered at all the information!
Wow, and people said the Reagans were out of touch.
What Nancy Reagan was trying to do is make it easier to say ‘No’! in social and other situations where peer pressure is at its peak, by putting it under the presidential mandate. Most drug use starts under the gentlest and most casual peer pressure.
I have seen people literally in the city gutters, rainwater sliding under and over them, while they were all strung out from drug use. I have to pick them up and out. You suburban drug users, enjoy your use and your pontificating. I for one am NOT going there.
I was sneering at those presentations from the moment they started, and I certainly wasn’t drug-addled.
Even in 6th grade, I noticed that DARE was short on information. They spent plenty of time basically repeating the mantra “drugs are bad, alcohol is bad, just say no” and showing us techniques to “just say no”, but never once addressed the question of why people use drugs in the first place. Even an 11 year old can see that all those thousands of people who use drugs must have some reason besides peer pressure and addiction.
They gave us unrealistic situations and had us practice getting out of them. What do you do if a stranger comes up to you and tries to make you smoke? According to DARE, you should firmly say “STOP!” and stick your hand out in a “stop” gesture, then run away while screaming “NO”. Maybe that would’ve come in handy if I lived in an after-school special instead of in the real world.
Yea, it is easier to avoid peer pressure because “the President('s wife) said so”
Dunno what kind of peers you were hanging around, but mind would have laughed their f*ing asses off for a month.
Same thing with alcohol (and much more frequently). Gonna outlaw that?
Beat me to the punch line, Zag.
“Just say no” might have peer-pressure *gravis if it was endorsed by someone closer to the kids’ age group, like Chelsea Clinton during the '90s, or some highly-admired teenie-bop celebrity, but coming from Nancy Reagan – who was already looking like the First Grandmother back in the '80s – it is to laugh.
(I’d nominate the Bush twins, but “just say no” loses its street cred when it comes from kids who get busted for underage drinking)
It gave ME the impression, as a young kid, that drugs were only done by “Bad People.” That if I found out someone was doing drugs, they were a Bad Person, and I would have to stay away from them, because they were Evil and Wrong.
Everything was in such black and white terms. It’s a dangerous argument, because it WILL cause a “gateway” effect to happen. Kid tries pot, sees it’s not as bad as they said it was, then figures, “oh, well if they lied about this, then obviously they lied about cocaine/heroin/crank whatever.”
You ruin your credibility.
And it doesn’t address the fact that while, “just say no” sounds good in theory, in practice, some people don’t have the will power, or the strength to do it.
I will, thanks. What do you think when you see vehicles turned over in the ditch?
Personally I feel bad but I haven’t given up my car yet. YMMV.
You figure out a way to live life without risk, you let us know, m’kay?
As I remember it, the “Just say no” idea was a reaction to some of the anti-drug education that was being used at the time. Kids were being taught to use all kinds of complicated reasons for refusing drugs. It was suggested that they say things like, “My parents will kill me if they catch me doing that,” or “I’m on the baseball team and I don’t want to let the team down.” All sorts of reasons and excuses to keep them from having to refuse outright. It was supposed to be easier to turn down the offer if you had some kind of backup, and it was supposed to keep you from losing face.
So, “Just say no,” was meant to say, basically, “Why not just tell the truth? You don’t need excuses for turning this stuff down, if you don’t intend to use drugs, just say so.” It got seen as a much more simplictic approach as it got used more, but the original intention, which was to encourage kids to have the guts to stand up for their convictions, was a good idea.
My younger brother used to feel that way about smoking cigarettes, thanks to anti-tobacco presentations at his school.