Lots of people have weighed in on the “just say no, or the terrorists win” anti-drug commercials from last night’s superbowl. Reactions:
- Dave Winer:
What’s coming next. A link between abortion and terrorism?
- John Robb:
We support terrorism more through the purchase of fine oil products than drugs
- David Kurtz:
I almost choked on a pretzel
- Andy Kashdan:
the ads forgot to mention that the war on drugs is what makes it such a profitable business for terrorists
- Rob Walker:
Of all the various attempts to use tragedy to make a point, this is among the most transparently manipulative
- Geov Parrish:
this particular argument is nonsense on several levels
- Ken Hagler:
as a Libertarian I favor legalizing drugs
- Rob Bender:
there is a serious logic flaw here
- MetaFilter:
Is the war on drugs back in full force?
- Kuro5hin.org:
Logically speaking… the only alternative is legalize it
- Free Republic:
Blame the politicians who refuse to change America’s expensive and counter-productive drug laws
- indymedia:
The government has gone out on a limb with this campaign
My take on it is this: it’s a step in the wrong direction. For a little while there, the anti-drug campaign was making some headway in what appeared to be a reasonable direction: give parents some down-to-earth advice on how to talk to their kids about drugs, cut off the problem before it starts. That doesn’t work in every household, nor will it work for every kid, but it’s digestable, it’s useful, and more honest communication is better than less.
But this “just say no or the terrorists win” is just over the top. It’s the new “reefer madness”. 5-year-olds who are still afraid of the boogeyman will buy it, but 12- and 13-year olds (the real problem) are smarter than that. they’ll see right through it. And worse, it further vilifies current drug abusers, closes off useful avenues of communication that might redirect the attention of future drug abusers, and pulls us further from the ultimate solution, which is to treat drug abuse as the social and public health problem it really is.
