ANTI-DRUG CROWD SAYS BARACK OBAMA'S TALK WAS BAD MEDICINE

Anti-drug crusaders bashed Barack Obama's candid chat with New
Hampshire high schoolers Tuesday, saying his casual manner sent a
dangerous message: You can get high and still be President.

"A person in his position has an obligation to be very clear about
the seriousness and illegality and potentially deadly results of
using drugs," said Calvina Fay, executive director of the Drug Free
America Foundation.

She said the two most effective weapons against teen addiction are
emphasizing the harm drugs can cause and stressing societal
disapproval of using them.

"He basically violated both of those," Fay said.

She said Obama's telling kids he did drugs and came out okay might
also lull parents into being less alarmed about their kids' dabbling
with banned substances.

"His outcome was very different from what we normally see. Most kids
that use drugs don't become presidential candidates," Fay said.

Andrea Barthwell, the former White House deputy drug czar who quit in
2004 to consider - and then decline - a Senate run against Obama,
said Obama missed a chance to underscore how casual use can lead to
serious addiction.

"Young people see him as the audacious, hopeful candidate," she said.
"He could have seized the opportunity to say, 'I am one of the lucky
few who moved through it without consequence.' By dismissing it as
youthful folly, we're missing an opportunity to significantly impact
the young people who are inspired by what he's trying to do."