KIDS WILL SEE LAUGHABLE DRUG VIDEO AS 'NOT4ME'

People should take a look at the most recent TV spot that Health
Canada is running to try and prevent kids from using drugs.

The "drugsnot4me" campaign video is a total embarrassment due to the
over-the-top rhetoric which generates fear rather than educates youth.

Readers can see the video on the Health Canada website:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hc-ps/drugs-drogues/youth-jeunes/tv-not4me-odrogue-eng.php

A girl hangs out in her room while a creepy voiceover sings an old
children's ditty with the words changed; "One two, kicked out of
school" and "three, four, snort some more." The voiceover follows with
"five, six, need my fix" and then "seven, eight, it feels too late."
The girl is trashing her room and finally, appears in a jail cell. The
way it is photographed even looks creepy and dreamlike.

It is an eye-rollingly laughable and embarrassingly lame attempt to
both appeal to and frighten kids. "Just say no" was a joke in the
1980s when I was a teen, as was the "This is your brain on drugs"
commercial where the girl trashes the house with a frying pan. Now
this same, worn-out, proven-failure method of fear-mongering and lying
is being rehashed and spewed at your kids.

These ads will run on TV alongside commercials for booze, erection
pills, junk food, violent movies, video games, and fast cars. If
history is any indication, these new ads -- which you all paid for, by
the way -- will likely have no effect on most smart kids who will try
drugs, and cause the ones who don't to laugh even more heartily at
adults' silly attempts to prevent teen drug use.

Does anyone still believe that kids actually buy these ridiculous
ruses?

Our government does. For those keen on teaching kids about drugs
without the hyperbole of the standard "education" programs, I
recommend the Canadian Students For Sensible Drug Policy website
at www.cssdp.org , the Educators For Sensible Drug Policy website at
www.efsdp.org or the Law Enforcement Against Prohibition website at
www.leap.cc .

Russell Barth,

Ottawa

Educators for Sensible Drug Policy