TERRORISM LINK IN DRUG ADS WHIPS UP BACKLASH

Group Parodies Spots For 'Appalling' Campaign

The ad is like others you've probably seen lately, an overblown sullen face
that serves as a backdrop to statements about drugs.

Only this time, the face featured on the advertisement is that of President
Bush, who is accused of deceiving the American public by linking the war on
drugs to terrorism.

Sponsored by the Drug Policy Alliance, a New York-based nonprofit focusing
on reforming U.S. drug policies, the ad was to appear today in the pages of
Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper.

The ad is a caustic response to a new campaign from the Office of National
Drug Control Policy that claims drug use helps to fund terrorism.

Matthew Briggs, the associate policy director for the Drug Policy Alliance,
said the ad is a parody to "highlight how appalling and deceptive and
wasteful the administration's ad campaign is."

"Ultimately the president is responsible for the administration's policy,"
Briggs said. "This isn't a personal matter with the president, it's about
his administration's policies."

The ad is dominated by Bush's face and the superimposed quote: "This month
I watched the Super Bowl, wasted 10 million taxpayer dollars on a deceptive
ad campaign, and shamelessly exploited the war on terrorism to prop up the
failed war on drugs. C'mon, it was just politics."

It then accuses the administration of blaming youngsters for contributing
to terrorism and says the war on drugs is responsible for creating illegal
markets that actually fund terrorism.

Tom Riley, the communications director for the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, criticized the parody ad as a partisan attack on the president.

He said the administration's new campaign has been effective in proving
that drug use does not just harm the individual user, a common argument for
groups like the Drug Policy Alliance.

"I kind of expected that (the alliance) would be doing something about it,"
Riley said. "We're taking away the argument that drug use doesn't hurt
anybody else. That's been the argument for years and years.

"When you undermine that argument and you say that drug use actually does
hurt other people, you're really pulling out the main plank of the
legalization argument."

Riley said the administration's ads have been supported by both Republicans
and Democrats and have been shown to be effective in market research,
especially with teenagers.

"The purpose of the campaign is to drive down drug use," Riley said.
"Teenagers especially think that they're immortal, but this appeals to
their idealism."

Briggs said the administration's attempts to appeal to teenagers is
misguided and that the money should have been spent on drug education programs.

"The suggestion that American high school students are somehow responsible
for terrorism is absurd," Briggs said. "They're not really trying to keep
young people from using drugs. The intent is purely political. It's about
funding the drug war and showing Congress that it's still necessary."

The campaign will continue, Riley said. A new wave of ads is being created
while the administration waits to see how effective the current crop is at
reducing drug use.

The club drug ecstasy will also be the subject of a new wave of
advertisements sponsored by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America; those
ads will hit the airwaves over the next couple of months.