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Friday, September 14, 2007

This Week on Drugs

posted by on September 14 at 15:07 PM

drug_czar.jpg

Czar Struck: Yesterday the White House Drug Czar, John P. Walters, held a press conference in Seattle to trumpet a $10 million anti-meth ad campaign in Washington and seven other states.

Alongside Representatives Dave Reichert and Rick Larsen, Walters gave the impression that the campaign, which runs through March 2008, is based on messages of hope and the success of treatment. (That is the story over at the PI and Seattle Times.) Walters said we have “to put our arm around somebody to get them to treatment.” He drove home the point that rehab is effective: “The biggest single obstacle is people believing treatment doesn’t work.” Also, two-dozen framed black and white posters around the room and handouts in every press pack read, “Life After Meth,” each with a photo of a former addict and their tale of decline and recovery.

But Walters was elusive when pressed for the campaign’s content. He eventually said he didn’t know how much of the new campaign used content from the posters and handouts and how much was lifted from the Montana Meth Project—which saturated airwaves and ran copious print advertising, making it the leading advertiser in Montana in 2005 and 2006, but had questionable results. (A survey found Montana teens who believed that trying meth just once created “great” or “moderate” risk of getting hooked decreased from 95 to 92 percent, which is within the poll’s margin of error but shows no indication that the ads worked.)

Afterwards, I spoke to Mark Krawczyk, of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, who revealed that the “Life After Meth” images, despite being the only print ad examples provided to reporters, was “not part of the media buy.” The posters are just a touring display. But images and televisions ads from the Montana Meth Project, such as the one below, are in the media buy. The scare-tactic pieces are the ones in the national Meth Project’s gallery and the only ones we’ve seen in Washington thus far. Earlier this week, I wrote about why I think those ads are flawed.

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Furthermore, the talk about treatment was lip service. The ONDCP isn’t allocating any additional money for treatment in the eight ad-campaign states. And Doug Allen, Director of Washington’s Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse, said the state’s ability to provide treatment falls far short of demand. So while you can argue that scaring kids shitless with graphic images and abstinence-only messages might dissuade them from using meth – even though stats show that isn’t effective – it’s disingenuous to claim this campaign is one about treatment and recovery.

Club Drugs: Partying Brits get swabbed.

Temptations: Narcotics officer arrested for stealing coke and meth from evidence room.

Shortages: Marijuana crop crisis in the Southwest.

Crackdowns: Reducing cocaine availability in US.

World’s Poor Dying in Agony: Doctors won’t prescribe addictive pain killers.

RSS icon Comments

1

Speaking of bad teeth, partying Brits and Amy Winehouse. Did anyone see this photograph in Heeb?

http://heebmagazine.com/blog/view/354

Posted by E. Steven | September 14, 2007 3:08 PM
2

Ok, swabbing people's mouths for drugs is strait out of 1984. This scares the shit out of me.

Posted by Dianna | September 14, 2007 4:55 PM
3

John Walters is now suggesting that “The biggest single obstacle is people believing treatment doesn’t work.” It strikes me it's him and his completely out of touch government who have always been guilty of beieving that treatment doesn't work.

They're the ones that have directed 98% of drug funding toward enforcement, interdiction and incarceration with zero results. And they're the ones that maintain the ridiculous position that marijuana is the number one drug problem.

And now the whole problem is apparently that the "public" doesn't understand the real dynamics of the issue? Who is holding the purse strings Mr. Walters - us, or you? Why not put our money where your mouth is?

The average person seeking treatment for meth either can't get it, can't afford it, or has to go on a four month waiting list. What's the point of spending ten million dollars to get people into treatment when for the most part, it doesn't even exist?

I wonder when the taxpayer is finally going to say enough is enough and hold the government accountable for the massive failure the ridiculous "war on drugs" strategy has been. 30 years, and tens of billions of dollars and nothing has changed. It's been nothing but a colossal waste of time and money and a continuing insult to the intelligence of anyone with something above a room temperature I.Q. It's a disgrace.

Posted by Brenda | September 15, 2007 12:13 AM
4

John Walters should not be able to go anywhere in the country without getting beaten, the bastard. I hope somebody shoots him. The ONDCP is a failure, and an enemy of freedom. When will the people take this war to the bigs who have been giving us the shaft all these years? They're the ones who called it "war." It should look a lot more like it whenever John Walters comes to town. Somebody at least spit in this kook's hamburger, please!

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