# Urinals against drugs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 9, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191 "2003-05-09T20:06:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nthomas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ed8c4c/32.png) [@nthomas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nthomas)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191/1 "2003-05-09T20:06:47Z")
Re: Urinal 101 [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030509.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030509.html) As an expatriate Brit, I have been puzzled by the fact that may urinals, in restaurants etc. in the Los Angeles area, where I now live, have small rubber mats in them, often printed with the words “Say no to drugs.” I do rather wonder what these mats are for. Do they help eliminate splashing? Perhaps they help with cleaning somehow, but they must get very disgusting. But much more I wonder why on earth anyone would think this was a suitable place to be campaigning against drug taking. All I can think is that if you were very, very stoned you might think the toilet was talking to you, but would even a person totally out of it be likely to take advice from a urinal? Nigel Thomas ```auto WEB SITE: "Imagination, Mental Imagery, Consciousness, and Cognition: Scientific, Philosophical, and Historical Approaches." 'Permanent' redirect URL [THE ONE TO BOOKMARK OR LINK TO]: http://www.members.leeds.ac.uk/n.j.thomas70 Current 'physical' location: http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/nthomas/home.htm ``` ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191/2 "2003-05-09T21:35:49Z")
The mats help prevent junk such as cigarette butts or wads of paper towels / toilet paper from getting flushed and clogging the plumbing. Unlike sit-down toilets, urinals drain out through relatively small pipes. ---
**Author:** ![hermann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b487fb/32.png) [@hermann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hermann)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191/3 "2003-05-10T04:00:35Z")
Urinals have a 2" drain, the same size as a shower. ---
**Author:** ![hermann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b487fb/32.png) [@hermann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hermann)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191/4 "2003-05-10T04:02:32Z")
Oops…water closets have mainly 3" drains, not that much larger. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191/5 "2003-05-10T19:32:58Z")
I was born here and I also find it puzzling. Well, not really. It’s one of those feel-good useless stupid things that is hard to stop without looking like a Bad Guy. Scene: Boardroom of PissMats Inc. Boss: We couldn’t sell ad space on the product like we hoped; it turns out people don’t want to spend money to allow people to urinate on their company or product name. Suit #1: I know! Let’s put “Say No To Drugs” on them! Think of how many guys will take advice from what they’re aiming their wang at! Suit #2: Are YOU on drugs? Who the fuck is going to stop shooting up because a piss-soaked, cigarette-butt laden urinal mat tells them to? It’s a goddam addiction, for Christ’s sake! Boss: I guess you WANT our nation’s youth you die in an alley with a needle hang out of their arm… YOU’RE FIRED!!! ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191/6 "2003-05-11T06:23:19Z")
It’s a great idea - you’re looking there anyway, why not fill it with messages? That seems to be the thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191/7 "2003-05-11T06:33:36Z")
You can’t pee on a billboard, but you can get advertising from a urinal… ---
**Author:** ![akrako1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@akrako1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akrako1)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191/8 "2003-05-12T19:12:46Z")
Personally, I think pissing on the ‘Say No To Drugs’ logo is about as fitting as it can get. What else would be better to piss on? Ok, maybe a pic of G.W., Ashcroft, or Rummy… that’d be swell… ---
**Author:** ![fgarriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c6cbf5/32.png) [@fgarriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fgarriel)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191/9 "2003-05-13T14:30:10Z")
If it were me, I’d want a picture of a urinal on the mat so that I could try for double-points. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191/10 "2003-05-13T18:34:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fgarriel \* > \*\*If it were me, I’d want a picture of a urinal on the mat so that I could try for double-points. \*\* The mat is not where you are supposed to aim. Didn’t you read the column? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191/11 "2003-05-14T22:10:47Z")
I don’t think it’s such a big deal if the occasional cigarette butt or wad of paper gets tossed in a urinal; the drain can probably accommodate it. Gum, on the other hand, will not disintegrate the way paper will, and I’ve seen plenty of gum in urinals. I bet the mats are there to catch gum and prevent it from clogging the pipes. ---
**Author:** ![UselessGit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/74df32/32.png) [@UselessGit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UselessGit)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191/12 "2003-05-15T16:28:02Z")
While in a club, I once peed on a wall on which I thought I saw a urinal ( I think the pattern on the wallpaper got me) - wish there had been a “say no to drugs” mat in one of the urinals I used earlier that evening… I got some strange looks before I figured out what I was doing and decided to have a talk with Einstein. My point? Say no to drugs. ---
**Author:** ![privard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e8c25b/32.png) [@privard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/privard)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191/13 "2003-05-16T10:24:09Z")
“You can’t pee on a billboard, but you can get advertising from a urinal…” “You can’t pee on a billboard”??? ---
**Author:** ![doctordoowop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecc23a/32.png) [@doctordoowop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doctordoowop)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191/14 "2003-05-18T00:08:50Z")
I like urinals full of ice. One can watch the ice melt. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191/15 "2003-05-18T02:19:53Z")
You can pee on a billboard, but you can’t get up to the actual board without more work that it’s worth. Ah, the War on Drugs at work. 😉 “Big Brother is watching you pee.” ---
**Author:** ![Mooster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8edcca/32.png) [@Mooster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooster)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191/16 "2003-05-20T21:01:52Z")
I always viewed these mats as an opportunity for personal revenge against Nancy Reagan while urinating… ---
**Author:** ![nick.baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e47c2d/32.png) [@nick.baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nick.baker)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinals-against-drugs/174191/17 "2003-05-27T18:18:47Z")
Here’s an URL for Urinal 102: > **[WCs meet PCs: converged tech toilets show promise](https://www.theregister.com/2003/05/27/wcs_meet_pcs_converged_tech/)** > > Bodily\_function()