ANTI-DRUG MESSAGES CLOUDED IN SMOKE?

The Office of National Drug Control Policy has been running ads that stretch
the truth about marijuana, experts say.

Smoking marijuana funds international terrorism and leads to such horrors as
date rape, manslaughter and accidental shootings of children. This is the
message put forth in the Office of National Drug Control Policy's ongoing
advertising campaign. The only problem, said experts in economics and
illegal drugs, is that the message in the ads isn't quite true.

When looking at the facts, said Nicolaus Tideman, an economics professor at
Virginia Tech, one quickly realizes the alleged link between terrorism and
marijuana is just a bunch of smoke.

Al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations receive little money from drug
sales - particularly marijuana, Tideman said.

Most of the money from marijuana sales instead goes to South American drug
organizations, he said.

Violence is certainly connected to the drug trade, Tideman said, but that
violence is not inherent in the drug - it's inherent in the drug's
illegality.

Because drug dealers have no legal recourse, stealing in the drug underworld
is often met with violence. That makes a pretty good case, Tideman said, for
decriminalizing drugs.

"The problem is caused by criminalization," he said. "A well-structured
society would provide a legal opportunity for those that sell drugs."

The advertisements say buying drugs supports this violence. However, it's
more likely that the bulk of the money goes more toward the logistics and
maintenance of the illegal drug organization, Tideman said.

Violence is bad for business and drug dealers have to be paid exorbitant
amounts to take the risks associated with the trade, he said.

Plus, not all marijuana comes from outside the nation's borders, Tideman
said.

"It seems to me that a lot of people grow their own marijuana," he said. In
fact, Tideman joked, it seems these ads are encouraging drug users to grow
their own.

The advertisements' allegations that marijuana leads to date rape and deadly
accidents are based on the drug's ability to impair judgement.

That is a well-documented effect of the drug, said Kerry Redican, a Tech
professor who specializes in drug education. Marijuana, however, is not the
only substance that impairs judgement.

"Alcohol can impair your judgement, Benadryl can impair your judgement and
so can zillions of other drugs," Redican said.

Alcohol is statistically proven to be more dangerous than marijuana because
high-risk behavior such as driving drunk is much more likely, he said.

Furthermore, alcohol - not marijuana - is the substance most closely
associated with date rape.

The ads draw conclusions that really aren't there, Redican said.

"They're trying to connect dots that don't really connect," he said. "It's
almost a 'Reefer Madness' kind of thing."

In one ad, a stoned teenage driver unwittingly runs over a pedestrian. In
another, two boys high on marijuana play with a gun and one is shot. In
another, a teenager molests a girl because smoking pot has impaired their
judgement.

These scenarios, Redican said, are possibilities but are in fact extremely
unlikely.

Marijuana addiction is a theme running through several of the campaign's
print advertisements.

"Don't be fooled by popular beliefs," the ad says. "Research shows that
marijuana use can lead to addiction."

Redican said he has seen little conclusive evidence that marijuana is
physically addictive, though up to 10 percent of marijuana smokers do have
trouble limiting their use.

Ironically, one of the ads urges parents to ignore the "propaganda" about
smoking marijuana.

The sketchy data and unlikely scenarios presented in the ads are a prominent
example of unethical advertising, said Matt McAllister, a communication
studies professor who researches advertising.

The anti-drug spots use a common advertising tactic called "puffery," or
making exaggerated claims about a product, McAllister said.

Using "puffery" in public service announcements can effectively spread
untruths, he said, because the public assumes PSA's are going to be honest.

"This isn't just, 'you should buy a Coke,'" he said. "This is dealing with a
serious social issue."

The Marijuana Policy Project, an organization devoted to erasing the stigma
attached to marijuana smoking, has created ads parodying the government's
anti-drug ads. They will begin running today in Washington, D.C.

In one of the parody ads, two men discuss whether buying marijuana funds
terrorism.

One says the marijuana trade may support violence because marijuana is
illegal, while, "If I buy a beer, that doesn't support terror, because beer
is legal, right?"

The other agrees and the first man concludes, "So what you're saying is if
we make marijuana legal and regulate it like beer, it wouldn't support
violence."

The commercial ends with the tagline "Marijuana prohibition. Harmless?"