THE WAR ON DRUGS IN APRIL PLAYBOY'S FORUM

BRAINWASHING: antidrug ads are cool. the drug war is not

This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs. For more than a
dozen years, that catchy ad, produced by the Partnership for a
Drug-Free America, has flickered at the center of American culture.
According to a 1994 study, 96 percent of U.S. teenagers recalled
seeing the egg (your brain) drop into the frying pan, and 98 percent
of those teens identified the advertisement's message as: "Using drugs
is bad for your brain."

Since 1986 the PDFA has created more than 500 antidrug ads. Madison
Avenue admen and media barons have donated more than $2.8 billion in
broadcast time and ad space. "Your brain on drugs" and its clones
represent the largest public-service media campaign in history. More
than 200 corporations and foundations have joined the cause. In recent
years, however, there have been signs of declining interest in the
campaign, fewer big contributions, fewer ads. The PDFA created a
chart that appeared to link the shrinking ad budgets to increased
curiosity among the young about drugs. Without an adult voice to guide
them, kids were making their own decisions about the risks of
marijuana, ecstasy, hallucinogens, cocaine and heroin.

Uncle Sam took note. This past year, drug czar General Barry McCaffrey
announced that the government would, for the first time, use tax money
to buy antidrug ads. Rather than relying on private-sector donations,
the feds plan to spend $195 million a year through 2004 (a total of
nearly $1 billion) to buy print space and airtime. With matching
contributions from the media, about $350 million annually will be
spent to bring the nation's antidrug message into your home. One
newspaper called the new initiative--warmly embraced by Democrats and
Republicans alike--"the air war on drugs." The PDFA's antidrug
propaganda machine is now the 15th-largest brand campaign in America,
reaching 95 percent of homes with four antidrug messages a week.

No one is in favor of kids doing drugs. Negative messages about drugs
(even the preposterous ones) help--until kids weigh the hype against
their own reality. Credibility was the first casualty in Nixon's war
on drugs, a POW/MIA in today's war.

General McCaffrey is willing to spend one percent of his total war
budget on propaganda. Unfortunately, it cannot distract us from the
consequences of how the other 99 percent is spent.

Image: a small stash of pot. A trail of words leading to two bullets.
"Pot hooks you up with a whole new circle of friends." The copy describes a
dealer who blew away two cops. The ad is cool.

Not cool: armed men smashing doors with a battering ram and shooting a
suspect while his son watches. Marines in camouflage, patrolling for
smugglers in the desert, killing an 18-year-old as he tends goats near
the border. Houston police, on the word of an informant, breaking down
Pedro Navarro's door and shooting him a dozen times in the back. (No
drugs are found.)

Image: a young man walking through a ghetto. "I am not a purple
dinosaur. What I am is a mentor. Not a psychologist, but I'm a listener. I
make a difference. Kids who have mentors are less likely to use drugs. Be a
mentor." The ad is cool.

Not cool: Will Foster, a father of three, serving 20 years for
cultivating marijuana he used to treat his rheumatoid arthritis. Rastafarian
Calvin Treiber serving 29 years for "marijuana conspiracy." The FBI arrested
his wife as well--she's serving 11 years-in effect, orphaning their four
children. Shattered Lives: Portraits From America's Drug War is filled with

pictures of men and women torn from their children by draconian mandatory
minimum sentences.

Image: A youth snorts heroin, then falls through the floor to be impaled
on a ten-foot hypodermic needle. The ad is cool.
Not cool: Almost 25 percent of reported AIDS cases are attributable to
intravenous drug use; 50 percent of new HIV infections come from needles.
Yet the
director of national drug-control policy believes that "federal treatment
funds should not be diverted to short-term harm reduction efforts like
needle exchange programs."

In one of the new PDFA ads a teenage girl picks up a frying pan and
says, "This is what happens to your brain after snorting heroin." She
uses the pan to smash an egg, the kitchen clock, plates and a toaster.
"This is what your body goes through. This is what your family goes
through. And your friends. And your money. And your job! And your
self-respect! And your future!

"Any questions?"

We could see the same ad with different tag lines: "This is what the
war on drugs does to your family. This is what the war on drugs does
to the Bill of Rights. This is what the war on drugs does to truth.

"Not cool.

Any questions?

DRUG WAR SCRAPBOOK: The lunacy continues

KIDS AND DRUGS

Percentage of parents who believe drugs are a serious national
problem: 82. Percentage who think the problem exists in their local
high school: six.

Percentage of parents who tried marijuana in their youth: 60.
Percentage who think their kids have tried marijuana: 21. Percentage
of teens who have tried marijuana: 44.

Percentage of parents who say that they have talked with their kids
about drugs: 94. Percentage of kids who recall having such a
conversation with parents: 67.

Advice to parents from the Partnership for a Drug Free America: "Accept
rebellion. At the heart of it, drugs, alcohol, wild hairstyles, trendy
clothes, earsplitting music and outrageous language are different ways of
expressing teenage rebellion."

Signs of a regular user, according to the pamphlet How Parents Can Help
Children Live Marijuana Free: "Avoids the family while at home. Interest in
Rastafari religion. Extreme rebelliousness, James Dean in Rebel Without
a Cause. Excessive preoccupation with social causes, race relations,
environmental issues, etc. Frequent, lengthy or unexplained absences. Runs
away or threatens to. Serious sibling conflicts."

THE USERS

Number of Americans who tried illegal drugs in 1962:4 million. Number
of adults who used drugs in 1985:23.3 million. Number of adults who
used drugs in 1997:13.9 million.

Number of adults who used cocaine in 1985:5.7 million. Number of
adults who used cocaine in 1997:1.5 million.

Estimated number of Americans who tried heroin for the first time in
1996: 171,000. Percentage who were under the age of 26: 90.

In a 1996 study by the Drug Abuse Warning Network, number of annual
emergency room episodes involving cocaine: 144,200. Number involving
heroin: 70,500. Number involving methamphetamines: 10,800. Number
involving marijuana: 50,000.

Number of drug abuse deaths in 1995: 9276.

RISK ASSESSMENT

Percentage of reported AIDS cases attributed to intravenous drug use:
25. Percentage of new HIV infections attributed to IV drug use: 50.
Number of needle exchange programs in 1993:37 in 13 states. Number in
1997:115 in 29 states. For every two Americans, number who support
needle exchange programs to reduce AIDS: one. For every three
Americans, number who believe that needles should be available without
prescription: one.

HARD TIME

Number of federal prisoners who are drug offenders: 55,624. Percentage
of these who are nonviolent first-time offenders: 50. Cost per day to
feed, clothe, house and guard these 55,624 prisoners: $3.5 million.
Cost annually: $1.28 billion.

Percentage of federal prisoners incarcerated on drug charges: 59; for
violent crimes: 2.5.

Number of Americans arrested in 1997 for drug offenses: 1.5 million.
Of these, percentage who were arrested for simple possession: 79.

Number of Americans arrested in 1997 for murder, rape, robbery and
aggravated assault (combined): 717,720. Number of Americans arrested
for marijuana offenses: 695,200. Percentage arrested for possession:
87.

Number of people in federal and state prisons in 1980 for violating
drug laws: 23,900. Number of people in federal and state prisons in
1996 for violating drug laws: 292,794.

FOR THE RECORD

"Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to
an individual than the use of the drug itself."--JIMMY CARTER, 1978

"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has
gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from
ourselves."--RONALD REAGAN, 1980

"Insanity is doing the same old thing over and over again and
expecting a different result."--BILL CLINTON, 1992

"Parents need to talk to children, but let's do what government is
supposed to do and make drug use risky."--SENATOR JOHN ASHCROFT, 1998

THE POLICIES

Federal funding in 1987 for the war on drugs: $4.7 billion. In
1998:$16 billion. Percentage increase: 340.

Legislation proposed during the last session of Congress:

Drug Free America Blue Ribbon Resolution; Drug Free Athlete
Responsibility Resolution; Drug Free Border Prevention and
Infrastructure Act; Drug Free Borders Act; Drug Free Congress Act;
Drug Free Hemisphere Act; Drug Free Neighborhoods Act; Drug Free
Prisons and Jails Treatment Act; Drug Free Student Loan Amendment;
Drug Free Teenage Drivers Act; Drug Free Workplace Act; Drug Free
Youth Resolution.

Federal Funding in 1998 for the Drug War

$2.02 billion: Bureau of Prisons $1.33 billion: Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration $1.18 billion: Department of
Veterans Affairs $1.15 billion: Drug Enforcement Agency $865 million:
Federal Bureau of Investigation $815 million: Office of Justice
Programs $809 million: Department of Defense $747 million: Department
of Education $641 million: Customs Service $621 million: Federal
Judiciary $549 million: National Institute on Drug Abuse $510 million:
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services $389 million: U.S.
Coast Guard $367 million: Immigration and Naturalization Service $361
million: Office of National Drug Control Policy $360 million: Health
Care Financing Administration $295 million: Interagency Crime and Drug
Enforcement $290 million: Department of Housing and Urban Development
$281 million: Federal Prisoner Detention $273 million: U.S. Marshals
Service $269 million: U.S. Attorneys $232 million: Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms $214 million: State Department $115 million:
Centers for Disease Control $90 million: U.S. Secret Service $73
million: Internal Revenue Service $66 million: Department of Labor $61
million: Federal Law Enforcement Training Center $54 million:
Administration for Children and Families $48 million: Health Resources
and Services Administration $43 million: Indian Health Service $40
million: Corporation for National Service $35 million: Food and Drug
Administration $31 million: National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration $28 million: Department of Justice Criminal Division
$27 million: U.S. Intelligence Community $23 million: Federal Aviation
Administration $18 million: Bureau of Indian Affairs $15 million:
Women, Infants & Children Supplemental Food Program $13 million:
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network $9 million: National Park Service
$9 million: U.S. Forest Service $5 million: Bureau of Land Management
$5 million: Agricultural Research Service

THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE: high crimes in the drug war

The holy war against drugs is increasingly about power, and that
includes the power of various Beltway bureaucrats to enforce their
will against the will of the people. The greatest victim may be democracy.

In 1996 voters in Arizona and California went to the polls and, in
sweeping victories, told Washington that federal drug policies--at
least as they applied to marijuana for sick people--were wrong. From

reefer madness to zero tolerance, from Nancy Reagan's 'Just say no" to
the Partnership for a Drug Free America's antidrug sound bites, the
demonization of marijuana had gone too far. America wanted a
commonsense drug policy, one that allows compassion.

Voting on Proposition 215, Californians approved the medical use of
marijuana by a 65 to 35 margin. In Arizona, a solid majority (65
percent) voted to give doctors the right to prescribe a range of
drugs, including marijuana, heroin and LSD. The feds' response was
total denial. The votes sent a "disastrous message to young Americans
that marijuana is good for you," said drug czar General Barry
McCaffrey. "We view this as part of a national strategy to legalize
all dangerous drugs. It's a libertarian's strategy that says, 'Let
people do what they wish and we'll treat the wounded.'" McCaffrey
called the outcome a tremendous tragedy: "There is not a shred of
scientific evidence that shows smoking marijuana is useful or needed.
This is not science. This is not medicine. This is a cruel hoax that
sounds like something out of a Cheech and Chong show."

He threatened to send federal agents after any doctor who acted on the
will of the people. And taking a clue from that old communist
witch-hunter Joe McCarthy, he tarred those who disagree with
prohibition as "a carefully camouflaged, exorbitantly funded,
well-heeled elitist group whose ultimate goal is to legalize drug use
in the U.S." But the voters, General McCaffrey failed to note, were
the people next door.

Not to be outdone, Bill Bennett, the republic's first drug czar,
claimed that the voters of Arizona had been "duped."

Politicians in Arizona tried to block the referendum's effect, arguing
that voters may not have read the fine print. Local medical-marijuana
activists renamed their group The People Have Spoken and tried again.
This past November, voters rejected a measure that would have gutted
the earlier referendum. By an easy majority, they restored the
language and intent of their campaign. They were not alone.

In Alaska, voters passed (by a 59-41 margin) Ballot Measure 8, which
would allow patients to possess up to one ounce of cannabis or to
cultivate three marijuana plants. Those in need of medical marijuana
could register for ID cards indicating their status.

In Nevada, a majority of voters (59 percent) responded positively to
an initiative that would allow patients to use marijuana under the
supervision of a doctor.

In the state of Washington, a majority of voters (59 percent) passed
Initiative 692, which would permit patients to maintain a 60-day
supply of marijuana.

In Oregon, a majority of voters (55 percent) passed Measure 67,
permitting the medical use of marijuana. An even larger majority (67
percent) defeated Measure 57, an attempt to recriminalize simple possession.

State by state, voters made their desires known. In Colorado, a
majority of voters (57 percent, according to an exit poll) passed a
medical marijuana measure. But the secretary of state claimed the
petition didn't have enough signatures.

In the District of Columbia, voters considered Initiative 59, which
would allow legalized possession and distribution of marijuana for
medical purposes. Prior to the election, Congressman Bob Barr (R-Ga.)
attached a last minute amendment to an appropriations bill. Barr
declared that the District of Columbia, whose budget is controlled by
Congress, could not use federal funds to conduct the medical marijuana
ballot. (The ballots had already been printed. Because of Barr's
amendment, election officials could not legally pay the printer.)

Exit polls suggested that nearly 80 percent of voters supported the
initiative, but no count was released by the city. The exact results
were locked in a computer. The district's election board, afraid of
violating the congressional fiat, would not pay for the estimated
$1.64 worth of labor it would take to tabulate the results. Activists
presented Barr with a check for $1.64 but he refused the funds.

Congress had blatantly tried to stop an election. Failing that, it
managed to silence 137,523 voters. The district filed a lawsuit, as
did the ACLU. John Ferren, lawyer for the district, called the denial
of the vote "an offense to us as human beings." He argued before a
federal judge: "Every single moment this vote is not counted is an
injury to you, to me, to everyone in this room."

Congress retaliated by passing an appropriations rider that forbade
the district from legal action.

Talk about your high crimes and misdemeanors.