WASTED

Rebecca Schoenkopf captured the absurdity of the Bush administration's war on
marijuana ["George Bush's Joint," Sept. 26] better than anything I've ever
read. She isn't the only one laughing at Bush Drug Czar John Walters and the
Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). Teenagers--their target
audience--are laughing, too, with possibly tragic results. Last year, ONDCP
carpet-bombed the airwaves with hysterical anti-marijuana ads telling teens
that if they smoke a joint, they were likely to commit date rape, run over
little girls in driveways or shoot their friends. What happened? Adolescent use
of marijuana shot up last year in nearly every age group. Far scarier, use of
hard drugs skyrocketed, too. Use of heroin by junior high students rose 60
percent in the past year, and use of cocaine was up in every grade level. Not
only are kids laughing at ONDCP's preposterous anti-marijuana ads, but they're
also tuning out much more important warnings about drugs that are truly lethal.

Bruce Mirken

Director of Communications, Marijuana Policy Project

Washington, D.C.