I wonder if these ads are going to backfire. The absurdity of what they are presenting makes these ads look like blatant propaganda. It made me look into the effects of marijuana to see if they were lying as much as I thought they were. And now I cannot see why alcohol is legal and marijuana is not. The effects of alcohol and marijuana are in the same neighborhood so if the effects are that bad, either they both should be illegal or they both should be legal. And if only one was legal, in my opinion, it seems that if you looked at the health risk and impact to society, it would be better if marijuana was legal and alcohol was not.
I’ve heard that marijuana is a gateway drug, but I feel that’s just because it’s illegal. I don’t think there’s anything magical in marijuana that makes you want to try cocaine, heroin, etc. I think that it’s because to get marijuana you have to break past the barrier of what’s legal. Once someone is in illegal territory, it’s easier to try other illegal things.
And you know, the more I looked into the effects of marijuana, I have to admit, the more I thought I’d like to try it. It seems like a much better relaxing agent than alcohol. So now I’m looking forward to the legalization of marijuana so I can try it out. I just hope I don’t have to wait until I get cancer or something.
IMHO, one of the worst ideas the government has ever had is to lie to the people about drugs. There’s enough scary facts out there about any drug to convince some people it’s not for them; for the rest of them, lying about drugs is kind of a gateway lie. ‘If the government has lied to me about the effects of drugs, how do I know they’re not lying about anything else?’
Phasom’s experience is hardly unique. It’s not as if teenagers buy everything they’re told; a few of them are bound to go digging for the actual facts. And when they find out that they’ve been lied to, they’re that much more likely to toke up. Which might go a ways towards explaining the prevalence of conspiracy theory in pothead culture. But I digress.
I was a major pothead for about a decade, and I can vouch for the fact that marijuana can be addictive, that it’s tough to get off of, that it can do some major damage to your life. But now that the government is busy screaming “It’ll turn you into a sex pervert! It’ll get you pregnant! It’ll get you SHOT! It’ll make you kill little girls!” who’s gonna listen to me?
The problem here is that a person can be tested positive for using marijuana up to a month after toking. Frequently this is abused to provide ugly statistics like the above.
On a side-note, I used to be a big old pothead too. I smoked up every night after getting home from work and I got all riled up about the drug laws too, but seriously – there’s a lot of other problems that need fixing more desperately than the drug laws do. Hell, I’d be happy if more people who worked full-time weren’t on the poverty line. It’s all a matter of perspective.
I’m with you brother! These ads need to come up to the standard of other advertising, I know that everytime I go through a six pack of bud the swedish bikini team shows up and we do naughty things in my living room. That’s all I ask from my ads, truth and reason.
Not a recent commercial, but I remember back in High school, part of the “Health” class was a “Drugs are bad” program. This consisted mainly of a bunch of low-budget videos.
Most of them were fairly factual, but that meant that the facts were something like:
Drugs lead to a state of euphoria!
Drugs make you feel so good, you don’t want to do anything else!
You see freaky shit if you take LSD!
Which apparently were supposed to SCARE people… it didn’t work very well.
And then there were a series of quizzes with questions like:
Marijuana is:
a) Good
b) Bad
Surprisingly little was said in that section about alcohol, but it was touched on, ironically enough, with a much stronger message. Something like: “If you have just one beer a day, THEN YOU ARE AN ALCOHOLIC AND YOU ARE BAD AND WILL BEAT YOUR WIFE” (none of the “Alcoholics” in these videos were ever female).
I still think that they should just show teenagers “Requiem for a Dream” and then they’d NEVER want to get involved with drugs.
My husband and I saw that ad, and our very first words were, “That [meaning the black guys not the kid] could’ve easily been a business exec on a cell phone or a soccer mom yelling at her kids in the back seat.”
I hate drugs of all sorts, and I found that ad insultingly stupid.
I’ve always thought showing kids pictures of Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, et all at age 60 and telling them THAT’S what hard drugs do to you would be a whole lot more effective then scare tactics. Unfortunately, MTV came up with the same plan and called it “The Osbournes.”
What about the commercial where the kid cuts four ciggies, rolls the tobacco in papers and smokes it as the VO informs us that one joint contains as much tar as four cigarettes? Now, I understand that someone can get lung cancer even if they don’t smoke all that much. But I’d assume the majority of people who get lung cancer smoke upwards of a pack a day or more. (If someone could find a cite, more power to ya…) Which, by their math, would be 5 joints worth of tar a day. Now, I’ve known some pretty serious tokers. As I’ve recently developed some stomach problems that makes getting drunk unpleasant, I might smoke a little weed once a week or so. I’ve NEVER known anyone who smokes 5 joints-worth of weed a day. I’m sure they exhist, I have no doubt of it. I just think they’re REALLY rare.
Nevermind that if one smokes out of a bong, I believe the water acts as a filter. (Not as well as a cig filter, but still, it’s something…)
As for the illigalization of pot in general, here’s an interesting tid bit: Reefer Madness, originally titled Tell Your Children was released in 1938, and pot was categorized as a narcotic in 1937. Legend has it that the two dates are not a coincidence, and that the film was brought to legislative attention before it was finished, in 1937 which lead to the eventual narcotic label. So basically, the basis and reason for making it illegal in the first place was a film that is in no way based in truth.
It’s nice to see that we’ve come such a long way in drug education, though. :rolleyes:
I’m glad to see everybody pretty much agree that these ads are insulting and it looks as though they take the mass population to be pretty damn stupid.
On a slightly different note, though, I will say these ads have scared the living hell out of my daughter, who will be 13 next week.
We’ve discussed drugs with her a bit, personal experience stories included, and we’ve also told her that these ads are a bit far-fetched – but that she still shouldn’t try drugs, because they’re illegal, and some ARE very dangerous. She’s equally freaked out by booze, which IMHO is a good thing.
I’ve been watching anti-drug propaganda since the 70’s and I’ve **never **seen any that was convincing, honest or well done. Anyone else?
I espceially hated that fried egg one - that appeared to be produced by some west-coast stoner.
Well, duh, binary drone - a goodly chunk of those people incarcerated for drugs are incarcerated for marijuana use… which shouldn’t be any more illegal than alcohol!
You won’t get thrown in jail for having a beer, but you can get thrown in jail for having a joint.
I believe the study which refers to 1/3 of reckless drivers being under the influence of marijuana was Testing Reckless Drivers for Cocaine and Marijuana. The interesting thing to note about that study is that the only drivers tested for marijuana and cocaine were those which were not apparently impared by alcohol. I don’t have access to the full study, so I don’t know if they also discuss how many reckless drivers were impared by alcohol and were not part of this test.
I agree there is that. There is also the fact that some people who sell (not a lot, but if you get people who sell pot AND stuff like cocaine, speed whatever) will lace their weed with the other drugs. This keeps people coming back to them when they can’t get the same effects from more normal (ie non-laced) weed. This also lets them introduce them to other drugs and get them hooked on them.
I do smoke up occasionally, I find a toke or two will help me to relax and not be so tense (which is good considering how I often stress out way too much over little things. I find when I’m a little stoned I’m not as tense and the little things that usually send me around the bend don’t really bug me). I have also encountered laced stuff once or twice. I knew it though because some of my friends can tell and the feel of the high is different. For example once I’m darn near certain that I smoked something laced with speed… I wasn’t relaxed I was vibrating off the walls. If anything affects me that way I can usually tell within 10 minutes or so and I stop completely (not like I smoke much in the first place) because I refuse to touch anything else. I want to keep my life straight. And I have done so.
Been lurking and, yes those ads are truly stupid, and will probably do more harm than good. I noticed something during my lurk that bothered me a little.
I think it is great that you are talking to her, and you are using your most powerful weapons, honesty and attention.
The one thing that bothered me was that I used to act “freaked out” by drugs and alcohol in front of my parents when I was that age, but that had little to do with my actual behavior (started taking acid at 14). I am not saying your daughter is as duplicitus as I was. I am just concerned that you MIGHT (emphasis so you don’t think I am putting words in your mouth) feel the fact that she is “freaked out” means she won’t use anything.
Just make sure you stay involved with her life as much as a teenager will let you. A supportive family and accurate information are a great way to reduce the risks of life in general, not just drug use.
Oh and pray for me when my 1 year old girl turns 13 (Karma could be real bitch on this one) good luck
i must admit, all those lies were working on me when i was young, naive and ignorant. my parents told me that drugs are bad mkay and i believed it. long live lincoln high school !
It’s all a matter of perspective.