[33girl]

These ads were so friggin ridiculous. It's like those ads where the kids are "choosing" not to smoke - they're so cheesy they just make every 11 year old out there want to run, run, run to 7-11 for a pack of Marlboros. Kids are savvier at younger ages and they're not going to listen to ads that are such blatant propoganda. Hell, why not run "Reefer Madness" and be done with it - at least we could get some retro fashion tips.

As far as Afghanistan, I believe I heard that the presence of the Taliban drastically cut down on the drug trade because they were morally opposed to it. The US govt and the Taliban with the same opinion, who'd a thunk it?

There was a very good series on the History Channel called Hooked: Illegal Drugs and How they Got that Way. Pretty much pot, coke and LSD all used to be legal and were made illegal because they were linked to a specific ethnicity (or with LSD, the youth power movement). That is way oversimplifying but catch it the next time it's on if you can - very enlightening.