PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS FAIL TO REDUCE SUBSTANCE USE

One thing I miss about being at home is I had so much more time to watch TV.
Now here I am, finally becoming a man at college, and it seems like I am always
busy, playing video games or eating sandwiches and whatnot.

I just need a little me time you know? Mostly I miss the commercials -- Public
Service Announcements (PSA) in particular.

When it's broken down, there have been three distinctive eras of anti-drug
public service announcements thus far. In the first era, brought about by the
Reagan presidency, we were shown the lighter side of drug use. A personal
favorite of mine, and a critical smash success, was the public service
announcement that contained an evil teenager all hopped up on marijuana
cigarettes offering an innocent young fellow a hit. Once the boy refused, the
natural response by the murderous drug fiend was "What are you, a chicken?" The
boy, displaying brilliant wit and a satirical taste, venomously responded, "If
I am a chicken, you're a turkey." Bam! In your face, drug peddler!

The commercial ended with everyone rightfully in their respective farm animal
place, some of us chickens, some of us turkeys.

We were left to decide for ourselves what we wanted to be. What they failed to
show was the boy being repeatedly smashed into lockers.

It didn't matter though, because we had all forgotten the commercial 30 seconds
later when "Power Rangers" started.

The second era was a time of exploring the art of minimalism in the PSA. The
NBC television network sponsored a series of 30-second commercials which
featured a popular celebrity set against a black back-drop, sitting on a lone
stool, speaking from the heart to the youth of America about drug use. Emotions
often ran high in these commercials. One of the more troubling spots, in the
aptly titled "The More You Know," campaign, featured a Mr. David Schwimmer. I
have to admit, I don't know if I really trust anyone from the cast of "Friends"
to be the spokesman to our youth.

I know "Friends" is doused in realistic portrayals of the hardships that a
20-something living in New York City might encounter, such as various
miscommunications and finding themself in inopportune, misshapen situations
(Oh, Phoebe!), but still, maybe they should first work on tackling that ever
controversial issue of an actual black person or other minority living in New
York City before they go right to drug use. It's probably about time "Central
Perk" takes down that "white's only" sign. Having David Schwimmer give a PSA on
drug use is like hiring Siegfried and Roy to be the spokesmen for Boy Scouts.
And I mean, that is just ridiculous, we all know they are way too busy
entertaining magic-starved Americans everywhere with their hit Las Vegas show
to do that. To be honest, I am not actually sure how the two are related
really, but I like the idea of little Boy Scouts everywhere working hard on
getting their "super fabulous!" badge.

Which brings us to now, the realism era, an artistic peak of the anti-drug PSA.
These commonly feature shaky, in-your-face camera techniques and snippets of
hit songs from modern, new-age, experimental groups like Matchbox Twenty. These
new commercials are hip and edgy. But still, even with all this hip and edge
and nearly two decades of, "Just Say No," PRIDE surveys, designated by
Congress, reported teenage substance abuse, which has remained relatively
neutral since the start of this massive campaign, has actually increased since
last year. On an even larger scale, substance abuse among the general populace
is still listed as a major concern among American citizens.

This would mean Americans have been spending millions of dollars on an
ineffective campaign.

Money that could easily be spent on health care and education.

On top of the millions of dollars spent on prevention, they spend even more on
the court costs and jailing of the hundreds of thousands of drug related
arrests each year. What are we doing wrong?

As Americans, we place such an important value on individuality, yet we are
constantly worrying about other people's personal lifestyles. I feel that if
something isn't hurting anyone else, or directly affecting their own chances at
happiness, then how can we force our own personal beliefs on it? Recently, the
Supreme Court withheld this idea in its much debated ruling that legalized
sodomy.

I may feel like homosexual practices are unnatural and immoral, but I can
easily demonstrate these beliefs by not sodomizing another male. If two
consenting adults choose to have a sodomy fiesta in the comfort of their own
home, more power to them. If they want to smoke pot, have sodomy and play
monopoly all at once, they better be careful about passing go. I call banker!

In all seriousness, if someone else's behaviors don't hurt my chances at
happiness and success, it's none of my business. I can be me, and they can be
them. In the end, we are all just trying to get by.

Of course the difference is that, like alcohol, which is a legal substance,
marijuana can affect other people by endangering them physically. Changes in
perception and control that often occur while under the influence of marijuana
can hurt others in a variety of ways, most specifically on the road. This is
why the government should make the punishment for traveling under the influence
of marijuana much more devastating and then decrease, or completely eliminate,
the punishment for possession of marijuana.

If we decided to decrease it, then instead of ridiculous, unnecessary and
costly legal ramifications, we could offer people optional productive
counseling, to ensure their habits have not overtaken their lives.

Under no circumstances should jail be considered an option for a drug user who
has not endangered others.

We can trust this policy would not be abused because if you are caught
potentially endangering another with your personal habits, then you will be
punished to a much more extreme degree than ever before.

We need to abandon this sinking ship and salvage everything we have left. With
that, we'll build a new super ship. With this new ship we can finally find the
golden treasure lost at Skull Cove. Or, we could realize the drug war is not
working, because it never should have been a war in the first place. It's
finally time we learn the difference of when there really is something to fight
and when we are just blindly attacking each other. Scaring people into change
will just not do this time.