Stupid anti-marijuana commercials

[LeslieAGD]

Originally posted by Cloud9
Does anyone else find these "Marijuana...it's more harmful than we all thought" commercials to be entirely ridiculous and uninformed?

Answer: No

[Munchkin03]

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.

Yes, you do learn a lot and see a lot. I also have experience with drug education and rehabilitation. 90% of addicts may say marijuana, but in my experience, 100% can also say alcohol. Because alcohol is legal and more accessible in some cases, it is not seen as lethal, or a "gateway" drug as marijuana (which is illegal).

So, I'd like to start seeing commercials that are anti-alcohol. No, I won't hold my breath...

[Cloud9]

What's interesting is that I've found, and this may not be true everywhere, but it's a trend I've seen...is that many people that are involved in drug education programs (and example is D.A.R.E., if anyone's hear of it) are themselves current drug users...it's pretty pathetic actually. I don't accuse anyone of ignoring this trend in their community or being apart of it, it's just something I've been exposed to in my life.

For the person whose friend died, I'm very sorry to hear that. I still don't see how marijuana is a serious reson for deaths that are linked through these commercials. Again, I point you to alchohol, which we can see through many articles posted on this site , is a much more prominent force in deaths, rape, and other awful things. How many times have you seen some one post, "well it's time for people to take responsibility for their actions etc"? The same goes for marijuana. People who go to hard drugs are usually addictive people who really didn't need weed to get there. Those same people often start substance abuse with alchohol before marijuana, yet it's not regarded as a gateway drug. And this is something you can get into any neighborhood from a very young age, if you know where your parents' liquor cabinet is.

You say marijuana kills, but my good friend's mother has lived longer using it. She has cerebral palsy, and with the standard medication she took was projected to have already died some years ago. Well, she still lives, smokes up everyday, and has been told that it was a large factor in her survival. Of course, I don't really advocate smoking it because you're basically burning your lungs which is bad no matter what, but hey, it comes in brownie form too.

So you know someone who died, I know someone who lived. The point is that yes, marijuana could be either bad or good. It's all in how controlled the intake of it is. The real problem with it now is that because it's illegal, there is no way for it to be regulated by the government, or to be manufactured with set standards. And remember, what you're not supposed to do is always more attractive to people. And so you have kids everywhere just itching to at least try it.

I'm not saying that you're lying or wrong about what happened to your friend,(although it is a bit of a vague connection, just from reading what you typed) but really that's not the point. The point is that these commercials are stupid and are not effective. I could easily make up a story that because Tina drank too much caffeine, it made her incredibly jittery, and so while shaving she cut herself with a razor, bled and died. Starbucks...it's more harmful than we all thought. That's about how much sense these commercials make. I mean, if I get drunk and shoot my friend in the head, can I blame it on the alchohol???? Kids aren't stupid, they can very easily make that connection as well. They see through things much more than adults give them credit for, and once they do it's pretty hard to get the intended message across. If you really want to reach people, stick with the proven facts, rather than emotional conclusion jumping.

[carnation]

I think those of us who have, ahem, been around for awhile can provide a unique view on pot. We were the kids of the sixties and seventies and most of us were exposed to drugs pretty heavily in college...whether or not we partook. For the record, I did not.

However, many many people I know did, including some of my relatives. I remember what they were like before they started smoking and what they were like after. There was just something missing. Some people who were really sharp before they used pot had short- and longterm memory problems. Apparently, it doesn't take very long for pot to affect retention. I've taught in a corrections institution biweekly for 14 years and teenagers who have smoked pot for just a couple of years can hardly remember the contents of a paragraph they just read. Frequently, their teachers from their old schools assure us they weren't like that before they started smoking weed.

Also, anyone who has driven with someone who was high has probably seen that that person was as bad a driver as any drunk. I certainly had the crap scared out of myself on several occasions like that. I don't care to have anyone whose driving is impaired out on the road.

Sugar and spice, I don't understand what cerebral palsy had to do with your friend's mother being terminal--CP doesn't kill.

[SilverTurtle]

While I don't advocate drug use, I find the commercials ridiculous.

The one that bothers me the most is the "1 in 3 drivers who were tested for drug use tested positive." Think about that... how often do drivers get tested for drug use? Only if there's a reason to suspect they're on something. And ONLY 1 in 3 that were SUSPECTED of drug use actually were using it?

I think the commercials are just propoganda. I'm sure kids she it the same way. Does pot have negative effects? Yes, absolutely. So let's educate people on those things, not on the very unlikely situations those commercials portray.

[Cloud9]

So let's educate people on those things, not on the very unlikely situations those commercials portray.

Exactly. I'm not really an advocate of marijuana myself, especially in chronic and intense(i.e. bong) use. I think it would be much more effective to show actual interviews with doctors or long time users about how it affected them physically and mentally. These ads with the corny after school actors just looks contrived and fake, and looks more like mom wagging her finger at you.

But I also think that giving the government control of marijuana as a legal substance would also help to curb many of the alleged problems caused by it.

[cash78mere]

Originally posted by sugar and spice
I think the anti-drug movement is shooting itself in the foot with these commercials. Everybody I know thinks they're ridiculous, and anybody who knows anything about marijuana (basically anybody over the age of 15) knows how little fact is actually contained in them.

Does anybody else find it significant that after the big anti-smoking ad campaign was launched, teen smoking rates actually went UP? I think the same thing will probably happen with these . . . teenagers start to lose faith in the anti-drug movement after being confronted with propaganda that's this ridiculous.

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?????

[Cloud9]

POT IMPAIRS JUDGEMENT WHICH LEADS TO POOR DECISION MAKING SKILLS AND SLOWED REACTION TIME. period.

substitute "pot" with "alchohol" and you still have a correct statement. It's a double standard that kids can see through. My generation was force fed the whole drug education program as kids, and now many of those kids have grown up to at least try the substances they were warned against. I think that a significant reason for this is that the unique factual effects of marijuana are ignored in favor of moralizing fables. It is my contention that this is not the way to go. And if there really aren't enough harmful effects that can separate smoking pot from getting drunk, then I don't understand why one is ok and not the other.

[MSKKG]

I agree, carnation. I myself have never smoked or done drugs. I will drink--I've been close to drunk (I guess that's what it was!) one time, in college--but don't drink that often now.

I've also heard that marijuana leads to stronger and more addictive drugs. I've heard stories of what people will do to get drugs. Such a sad situation.

[sugar and spice]

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.

[carnation]

The use of alcohol in itself can indeed kill people--it can lead to cirrhosis and many other conditions. I would assume that pot smoking carries with it many of the same risks of tobacco smoking.

And the indirect effects of both pot and alcohol can be terrible. My husband's cousin loved to smoke pot in the seventies. No one ever saw him do anything worse but he did love his pot. One night at a party, someone slipped some hallucinogen into his drink. He freaked out and had to be taken to the mental institution here.

He will never be able to leave the institution.

[cash78mere]

obviously alcohol as serious effects if abused. that is not the discussion.

these are anti-drug commercials, not anti-alcohol. if people want to tell kids the effects of alcohol, they'll make their own commercials. i don't understand why you are combining the 2. they are not saying that alcohol is harmless and drugs are bad. they are saying that drugs impair judgement.

i will continue to teach my kids that drugs are bad. they are 9. they don't understand the difference between cocaine and pot. drugs are bad, period.

while DARE is a slightly fluffy program, at least it is trying to get a message across! kids need to know that drugs are bad!!! you're telling me that you clearly remember the messages from DARE later in life and thought it was propaganda? that tells me that DARE did it's JOB and YOU were able to sort through facts as you got older and more informed. so your statement tells the VALIDITY of a program such as DARE.

these messages never said that pot is addictive. it says they impair judgement.

no kids are "going to get jaded with the anti-drug movement". if people want to do drugs, they will. but at least they will be INFORMED of it's POSSIBLE effects.

and no, to whoever said kids can see through this "propaganda" thing that keeps getting thrown around. kids don't know. they need to be taught so when they grow up they can make their own INFORMED decisions.

if you guys want to do drugs, go for it. but let the kids have a CHANCE. they deserve that much.

[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.

[MSKKG]

And if you have been listening to anything carnation has been saying about the use of drugs (firsthand knowledge from watching a relative screw up his life), those same kids who might have been able to put two and two together BEFORE taking drugs won't be able to come up with "four" AFTERWARDS.

[Cloud9]

Ay. Ok, let's try again. There is something to be said about being honest regarding the short term and long term effects of pot. It is bound to be more effective than courting curiosity with flimsy stories. I don't understand why that's so difficult to do. Can anyone point me to statistics showing how narcotics use has fluctuated if at all since these programs were implemented?