Quote:
Originally posted by cash78mere
where did you read that teen smoking rates went UP?
you say that "everybody you know" knows it's "ridiculous". but what about the kids and teens that DON'T know? not everyone is as well informed as your friends. 
i teach children. most of them know that drugs are "bad." what they don't always know or remember is WHY they're bad. not all kids have parents that teach them WHY drugs are bad and that is who we need to reach. many hear rap songs and watch tv where smoking up is "cool" and don't understand the ramifications of getting behind the wheel of a car while high.
these commercials show the effects of impaired judgement. of course they're not definite outcomes of smoking pot. they may be silly to you, but if they reach just one kid, they'll be justified.
quote:
"Would you tell the government if you were smoking up? Doubt it.) The overwhelming majority of them go on to lead productive lives, and don't end up killing people, running them over or having unprotected sex and getting pregnant."
my god, what ignorance. POT IMPAIRS JUDGEMENT WHICH LEADS TO POOR DECISION MAKING SKILLS AND SLOWED REACTION TIME. period.
and what does CP have to do with anything?????
|
I read in some newspaper article (I forget which one, it was a while ago) that teen smoking rates have gone up since the big anti-smoking ad campaign was launched. I assumed this was true as the facts would be easy to check if they were wrong, but I never checked up on them myself. I believe what the article said that teen smoking rates went down in the early 90s, but in the late 90s after the anti-smoking ad campaign was launched, they went back up. I'm not sure if this was nationally or only state-wide. Either way, that result would not surprise me.
I have nothing against drug education. However, I ask please please please that you feed your children facts, not anti-drug DARE-esque propaganda. I was a product of the DARE generation and I went through DARE or similar programs at least four times. So did my peers. Although I have not gone on to experiment with drugs, I have considered it. Most of my peers HAVE at least tried marijuana. Most of us were extremely put off by DARE or similar programs once we got old enough to think for ourselves and realize that a lot of what DARE was telling us was wrong or skewed. And while DARE does do some good by telling kids what drugs can do to you, ultimately it undoes all that good because kids eventually realize how many lies and how much propaganda ("You can get physically addicted to marijuana," "Any drinking whatsoever is bad for you") is mixed in, and they start to wonder if EVERYTHING they heard in DARE was made up.
Obviously marijuana is not good for you in most cases (medicinal cases are another issue entirely). But the fact of the matter is, marijuana is NOT cocaine, heroine, speed, exstasy, whatever. Marijuana is no worse than alcohol. Unlike alcohol, it is not addictive. It kills brain cells and causes you to forget things? So does alcohol. It impairs judgment and may cause you to do stupid things? So does alcohol. Your statement "POT IMPAIRS JUDGEMENT WHICH LEADS TO POOR DECISION MAKING SKILLS AND SLOWED REACTION TIME" is equally true for alcohol. So why should alcohol be legal while marijuana is not?
Marijuana does not kill people. Does marijuana impair judgement? YES. SO DOES ALCOHOL. Can impaired judgement lead you to make stupid decisions that can kill somebody? Yes. But neither alcohol nor marijuana kills people. That's why alcohol is not illegal, but drunk driving is.
As for the whole "if they reach one kid, they'll be justified" thing -- they may reach one kid, but they may also make a whole new generation of kids jaded with the anti-drug movement. Because these commercial are so similar to the DARE propaganda, they may ultimately cause more damage than they help.