Stupid anti-marijuana commercials

[sugar and spice]

Originally posted by Cloud9
Kids are ALREADY jaded with the antidrug propoganda movement, hello have you been listening to anything we've been saying. Our generation is a product of those programs, and it's not a very successful outcome.

The reason I point out the similarities between effects of pot and alchohol that are shown in the commercials is this: If I can make the connection, and YOU can make the connection, then kids can make it as well. Don't you understand, it makes you look like a hypocrite, and that's what kids hate most.

Just because people remember antidrug programs does not mean they "worked." I really don't understand that rationale, there are plenty of things I remember being told long ago that I don't follow now. If someone remembers that what they were told was a pack of bs, the reaction is to rebell against that and do what they've been told not to for so long. It's really not smart to underestimate children, because even if they don't understand now, they will grow up one day and put two and two together. So make sure you're really teaching them the right information.

Thank you, that was what I was trying to say.

I grew up in a world where we were fed "information" along the lines of these commercials in every anti-drug program we were made to take. We were constantly told that drugs will ruin your life. I'm not debating that drugs CAN ruin your life. But there are (AT LEAST -- because again, the numbers come from a government-conducted survey) twenty million people in the United States that smoke marijuana at least once a year, 6 million that smoke it on a weekly basis, 3 million that smoke it everyday -- and as far as I can tell, they're not causing widespread harm. I think it's fairly evident that not all of them are dying, killing people or getting pregnant. (And as I posted before, probably next to none of them are aiding terrorism, unless they also use cocaine or heroin in addition to their marijuana, and that's another whole issue entirely.)

I can tell you with complete certainty that because of DARE and similar propaganda techniques not unlike these commercials, I am jaded with the anti-drug movement. I do not know a single one of my friends who doesn't feel the same, even those who (like me) have chosen not to use drugs. I can't speak for every single member of my generation, but I have talked to people across the United States who went through similar programs, and not a single one says that DARE was an effective approach to anti-drug education. I'm sure there are those out there that feel that way. However, judging from what I've seen there aren't a whole lot of them.

I don't know how old those of you who are debating the other side are, but from what I've seen of your posts, most (all?) of you are old enough that you never went through DARE or the programs that imitated it. Unless you've been through it, I don't think you know what kind of techniques were used in them -- and as far as I can remember, they were very similar to brainwashing. My parents almost threatened to pull my sister out of DARE when she went through it four years after I did because they did not agree with the methods being used in the program. They were not the only parents to feel this way; in fact, DARE was discontinued at that school the year after my sister went through. I believe they use a different method of anti-drug education now.

I'm not disagreeing with you that there needs to be drug education in schools. I even agree that anti-marijuana commercials on TV are a good idea. But the way both programs are being carried out right now leaves a lot to be desired, and -- take it from somebody who's not too far from the target demographic of these commercials -- these commercials will alienate and disillusion many more teenagers than they help.

A much better approach would be to enlist teenagers themselves to help create and script these commercials. Teenagers can detect BS a mile away, and watching a middle-aged businessman's interpretation of what teenagers do, how they speak, and what their motives for using drugs or not using drugs just makes them laugh. The majority of today's teenagers do not take these commercials seriously -- the people who are producing these ads need to do a major rethinking of this if they actually want these ads to affect the majority of today's teenagers.

[Optimist Prime]

I'm Pro-Legal.

[librasoul22]

The fallacious logic that is used to show that marijuana is a gateway drug is something similar to this:

Assuming that all heroin users began by using marijuana:
Bob uses heroin.
Bob has used marijuana. <---- This statement is TRUE.

All heroin users began by using marijuana.
Bob has used marijuana.
Bob uses heroin. <---- If you follow the logic of the first statement, while not necessarily false, THIS is not necessarily TRUE. Perhaps he is still simply using marijuana.

This is a clever ploy that is used to show a correlation where one might not exist. While there could conceivably be a link, one is not INHERENT.

Many drug users may have very well began by using marijuana. But I can bet you that they also drank alcohol and/or smoked cigarettes. Why is marijuana singled out?

Furthermore, many people have used marijuana and never touched another drug.

[straightBOS]

Originally posted by TKE209Sweethrt

ps: I also worked for an Drug Education program, you learn a lot, and you see a lot. Next time you're out, check out a drug rehab and ask someone how they started. 90% it's the same thing...weed.

C'mon now, that is grossly misleading.

Most people are so ill-informed that they are not aware that alcohol is ALSO a drug. And in fact, it is the true gateway drug.

If you ask an addict what was the first drug they ever tried, they would say Marijuana.

BUT, if you ask them when they took their first alcoholic drink it will almost always preceed their first joint.

The misinformation campaign is what disqualifies the ads. If we are afraid to touch teen alcoholism and jump right to the Mary Jane-bashing, we only ask addicts to by-pass it on their way to other drugs.

[cash78mere]

Originally posted by Cloud9
Kids are ALREADY jaded with the antidrug propoganda movement, hello have you been listening to anything we've been saying. Our generation is a product of those programs, and it's not a very successful outcome.

The reason I point out the similarities between effects of pot and alchohol that are shown in the commercials is this: If I can make the connection, and YOU can make the connection, then kids can make it as well. Don't you understand, it makes you look like a hypocrite, and that's what kids hate most.

Just because people remember antidrug programs does not mean they "worked." I really don't understand that rationale, there are plenty of things I remember being told long ago that I don't follow now. If someone remembers that what they were told was a pack of bs, the reaction is to rebell against that and do what they've been told not to for so long. It's really not smart to underestimate children, because even if they don't understand now, they will grow up one day and put two and two together. So make sure you're really teaching them the right information.

wow. you obviously have no experience with kids. and if you do, i dread what you tell or teach them.

kids are KIDS. they are impressionable and need to learn facts so they can make their own decisions later in life. that is the key. when they are OLDER is when they can sort out the facts for themselves.

and to whoever asked ages. i'll be 25 in 2 weeks. i went through DARE. never liked the whole acting out part of it, but whatever.

if you guys honestly think that DARE, a program designed to educate kids and scare them of consequences, will make kids pro-drugs in the future are just unbelievable.

please don't ever have children. and if you do, be afraid for their welfare.

an adult needs different messages than a child.

go smoke all the pot you want. i don't give a damn. but i will EDUCATE my kids of what CAN happen if they do drugs. educating them will not make them want to do drugs. that is faulty logic

[cash78mere]

Originally posted by librasoul22
The fallacious logic that is used to show that marijuana is a gateway drug is something similar to this:

Assuming that all heroin users began by using marijuana:
Bob uses heroin.
Bob has used marijuana. <---- This statement is TRUE.

All heroin users began by using marijuana.
Bob has used marijuana.
Bob uses heroin. <---- If you follow the logic of the first statement, while not necessarily false, THIS is not necessarily TRUE. Perhaps he is still simply using marijuana.

you are correct. if i remember my math right (which i do ) :

T ---> T = T
F---> F = T
F ---> T = T
T ---> F = F

you can't flip those statements, it is purely mathematical. it won't work for any analogy, about drugs or flowers.

so that analogy doesn't work. i see where you were trying to go, but you can't use that logic in a mathematical sense.

[straightBOS]

Originally posted by cash78mere

go smoke all the pot you want. i don't give a damn. but i will EDUCATE my kids of what CAN happen if they do drugs. educating them will not make them want to do drugs. that is faulty logic

having a liquor cabinet will make them...

[swissmiss04]

I thought smoking pot impaired fertility. We can only hope.

[Dionysus]

Will all of you anti-marijuana people hush it?

I smoked trees religiously in my early teens and I turned out alright.



J/K

[sugar and spice]

Originally posted by cash78mere
wow. you obviously have no experience with kids. and if you do, i dread what you tell or teach them.

kids are KIDS. they are impressionable and need to learn facts so they can make their own decisions later in life. that is the key. when they are OLDER is when they can sort out the facts for themselves.

and to whoever asked ages. i'll be 25 in 2 weeks. i went through DARE. never liked the whole acting out part of it, but whatever.

if you guys honestly think that DARE, a program designed to educate kids and scare them of consequences, will make kids pro-drugs in the future are just unbelievable.

please don't ever have children. and if you do, be afraid for their welfare.

an adult needs different messages than a child.

go smoke all the pot you want. i don't give a damn. but i will EDUCATE my kids of what CAN happen if they do drugs. educating them will not make them want to do drugs. that is faulty logic

Cloud9 mentioned at the beginning of this topic that she has never smoked pot and doesn't intend to. And if you were referring to me in that blanket statement at the end there, I also mentioned more than once that I have never smoked either, nor do I plan to in the immediate future (as a runner, I have lungs to worry about). If you want your statements to be taken seriously, you should probably be more careful reading others'. Just because someone defends the use of marijuana does not mean they're a pothead, and anybody who equates the two is obviously running out of more effective arguments to make.

Other points:

I have actually worked with kids quite a bit. Fortunately I've never had to do an anti-drug program, and I don't ever plan to. I don't think it would be my calling.

As for teaching kids facts -- YES. Teach them facts. Do not teach them propaganda like what we're seeing in these commercials. "If you smoke marijuana you could aid and abet terrorism" is not a fact. It's not even true. "Marijuana can affect your memory" is a fact. Teach them the ramifications of smoking marijuana, but do not use scare tactics. And please, do not use things that are untrue! That's where the problems come in. If DARE or teachers or commercials teach children that buying marijuana supports terrorism, or that marijuana is psychologically addictive -- whenever kids find out that these are false (and they will, at some point) that's when they stop trusting anti-drug programs or the educators themselves.

Adults and children do need different messages. However, kids are a hell of a lot smarter than you seem to be giving them credit for. If a kid sees an anti-marijuana ad sandwiched between two alcohol ads -- he notices that, and he questions that. Trust me. But I think we've gotten off topic here. When discussing those commercials -- those are aimed at teenagers, from all I can tell. And teenagers DON'T need to be treated like children. If there's one thing that will get them rebelling the fastest, it's treating them like they're younger than they are.

Oh, and

"DARE demonstrated no effect on adolescents' use of alcohol, cigarettes, or inhalants, or on their future intentions to use these substances."

-- http://www.ndsn.org/FEB93/DARE.html

And a more recent article:

http://www.preventionnet.com/files/home46.cfm

Do a search; there are hundreds more articles like these out there.

[librasoul22]

Originally posted by cash78mere
you are correct. if i remember my math right (which i do ) :

T ---> T = T
F---> F = T
F ---> T = T
T ---> F = F

you can't flip those statements, it is purely mathematical. it won't work for any analogy, about drugs or flowers.

so that analogy doesn't work. i see where you were trying to go, but you can't use that logic in a mathematical sense.

Okay, I need to proceed cautiously because I am not sure whether you were saying I was wrong, or the analogy was, lol.

I said that this was the logic the propaganda follows, but it is misleading.

As for D.A.R.E., I don't think it ENCOURAGES kids to do drugs, but I think it makes them a little bit more curious about it. The biggest influence in a kid's life at that time is the PARENT, so if you really want children to be well-informed about drugs, it starts at home.

Some have said that marijuana leads to infertility but as of yet, there has been no substantial scientific evidence to back that up.

The U.S. Government itself has conducted experiments with our military within the 50 years or so, testing the effects of marijuana on soldiers. The British have also done similar experiments with their military and both concluded that the after effects are minimal (aside from the obvious side effects of ingesting smoke). It also depends on the amount of carcinogens (found in tobacco) present in any particular batch of marijuana as to how much it damages the lungs. Other than that, the high you experience while smoking marijuana is about the only drawback (if you see it that way).

[cash78mere]

Originally posted by librasoul22
Okay, I need to proceed cautiously because I am not sure whether you were saying I was wrong, or the analogy was, lol.

I said that this was the logic the propaganda follows, but it is misleading.

As for D.A.R.E., I don't think it ENCOURAGES kids to do drugs, but I think it makes them a little bit more curious about it. The biggest influence in a kid's life at that time is the PARENT, so if you really want children to be well-informed about drugs, it starts at home.

i wasn't saying that you were wrong. i totally see where you were trying to go. i was just saying that you are correct that the logic doesn't add up because it is mathematically impossible. a T--->F statement will always be false.

you are absolutely right that parents need to teach these kids. the only problem is that so many parents of young kids are drug users/ drug rehabers that the kids may think it's acceptable (speaking from my own experience, not trying to be a blanket statement)

[cash78mere]

Originally posted by sugar and spice
And if you were referring to me in that blanket statement at the end there, I also mentioned more than once that I have never smoked either, nor do I plan to in the immediate future (as a runner, I have lungs to worry about). If you want your statements to be taken seriously, you should probably be more careful reading others'. Just because someone defends the use of marijuana does not mean they're a pothead, and anybody who equates the two is obviously running out of more effective arguments to make.

i was not talking to you directly. it was a blanket statement.

it really doesn't bother me whether you take my comments seriously or not.

i know i'm right. lol

[Munchkin03]

Anecdotal evidence exists on both sides of the board. For everyone who's cousin's neighbor's wife's brother got something slipped into his weed, there's an AIDS patient for whom marijuana allows him/her to eat without throwing up, and to see straight to relieve him from AIDS-related glaucoma. The stories may be chock full of human interest, but I want cold hard facts. What does marijuana do? What are its risks? THIS is what should be taught, not propaganda. THIS IS WHY I do not agree with DARE or (groan) Say No to Drugs Campaigns. These programs are about as useless (outside of anecdotal evidence) as those tired abstinence only programs taught in our schools. There are tons of drugs that I had never heard of before (and haven't heard of since) my drug educaton stint.

[Optimist Prime]

I like to smokey smokey. But can't untill after rehersal. Its unprofessional. See. I don't go do things afterwards like perform open heart surgery (lets see if i can do a straight line. remember that commercial) or fry eggs or break everything in my kitchen. I just watch cartoons and draw pictures. Sometimes I write poetry or scripts.