# What is the original "this is your brain on drugs"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-original-this-is-your-brain-on-drugs/515879 "2009-10-31T20:34:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bith_Shuffle)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-original-this-is-your-brain-on-drugs/515879/1 "2009-10-31T20:34:51Z")
When did the “this is your brain on drugs” idea first appear? What are some of the earliest examples? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-original-this-is-your-brain-on-drugs/515879/2 "2009-10-31T20:35:46Z")
1987 > **[This Is Your Brain on Drugs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_Your_Brain_on_Drugs)** > > This Is Your Brain on Drugs was a large-scale US anti-narcotics campaign by Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) launched in 1987, that used three televised public service announcements (PSAs) and a related poster campaign. > The 30-second version of the first PSA, from 1987, shows a man (played by John Roselius) in a starkly furnished apartment who asks if there is anyone out there who still does not understand the dangers of drug abuse. He holds up an egg and says, "This is your brain," be... ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-original-this-is-your-brain-on-drugs/515879/3 "2009-10-31T21:44:37Z")
Any idea who did the voiceover in the original? It always sounded like Richard Dean Anderson (Macgyver) to me, but I never saw the version that showed him on screen. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-original-this-is-your-brain-on-drugs/515879/4 "2009-10-31T22:05:42Z")
Here’s [the first one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl5gBJGnaXs) And here’s [the second one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMwxWHaZUro&feature=related). ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-original-this-is-your-brain-on-drugs/515879/5 "2009-11-02T14:42:41Z")
The 80’s were so confusing. I used to tell people, “Just say no to fried eggs.” Turns out I was kind of on the right track anyway, what with the movement against fried foods and warnings against cholesterol. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-original-this-is-your-brain-on-drugs/515879/6 "2009-11-03T10:56:19Z")
That commercial always gave me the munchies. That other commercial used to always crack me up. Where the dude claims he’s not an alcoholic because he _never_ drinks before 5 o’clock. And then the one where the guy claims weed hasn’t affected him. Then in the back ground you could hear the mom or wife or whoever say “did ya’ look for a job today?” “Um, uh, no.” I swear, whoever wrote those commercials had to be on the stuff themselves. They were comedy gold. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-original-this-is-your-brain-on-drugs/515879/7 "2009-11-03T17:04:47Z")
Hey, at least the weed one made sense. “Pot makes you lazy” is at least pretty accurate. Compared to all the other “Pot kills” commercials anyway. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-original-this-is-your-brain-on-drugs/515879/8 "2009-11-03T17:26:07Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Hey, at least the weed one made sense. “Pot makes you lazy” is at least pretty accurate. Compared to all the other “Pot kills” commercials anyway. I’ll vouch for it making you lazy, at least temporarily anyway. Is there any evidence that smoking pot actually makes you a lazy human being, though? [QUOTE=Shakes] I swear, whoever wrote those commercials had to be on the stuff themselves. They were comedy gold. [/QUOTE] My favorite: “I learned it from you, dad!” I still tell my dad that all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-original-this-is-your-brain-on-drugs/515879/9 "2009-11-03T17:40:28Z")
They showed the Rachel Leigh Cook version on Channel One News (closed circuit video feeds aimed at high schools, filled with teen-oriented advertising… disgusting and exploitative, but that’s another thread) in 1998 and 1999, and you could practically hear the rustling pants caused by a dozen instant boners. ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-original-this-is-your-brain-on-drugs/515879/10 "2009-11-04T00:52:23Z")
I always liked [This](http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-94416363515198_2077_1903635762) one.🆒