WEED-WHACKED

Ad Featured Poor Logic, Avoidance Of Other Issues

The Bush administration has a new message: Marijuana is the newest cause of
teen pregnancy, joining the list of practically every other drug, notably
alcohol. This is the simple message that the Office of National Drug
Control Policy sent to Super Bowl viewers on Sunday. The ad showed a
forty-something couple expecting the results from a pregnancy test and
acting uncharacteristically distressed. As the subtitles read "they will be
the youngest grandparents in town," the camera drifts to their teenage
daughter, looking scared, upset and, of course, piously repentant.

Although the intentions of the pricy advertisement are noteworthy and the
execution is arguably powerful for its purpose, it nonetheless falls short.
Most importantly, the premise of the advertisement is flawed. It uses
indirect reasoning to prove its point: marijuana impairs one's judgment,
this impairment may induce sexual intercourse and this act of
irresponsibility may cause pregnancy. Certainly, there is a logical flaw
here, action A in this case does not necessarily cause result C - in fact,
it rarely does. This indirect reasoning - the same logic used last year in
similar ads connecting drug use to terrorism - reduces the strength of
their argument because it is frequently fallible.

Yet, there is an even bigger issue here. The ad, knowingly or not, brings
in other issues concerning abortion and sexual education. In President
Bush's conservative, generally religious administration, the idea of
abortion is clearly immoral. But by denouncing abortion, the administration
creates its own problem, and thus the ad attempts to find causation for an
unnecessary problem. A woman's right to choose should not be removed and
were it not for threats from the Bush administration, many options could be
available for families in similar scenarios.

Abortion, however, is not the only solution to the problem presented in the
advertisement and most would agree that it is not the best either.
Obviously, prevention will always be the key, and only through sexual
education can a person prevent this situation. The current trend of
"abstinence only education" denies reality and has proven to be
ineffective. Once a person has made the personal decision to engage in
sexual activities it is vital that they know how to be safe.

In this particular case, once judgment is impaired and intercourse is
inevitable, the next best option must be protection. The administration's
advocacy of abstinence-only programs has, in a sense, created this
situation. The issue is a non-issue and it only exists because of the
government's failure to consider all of the possible solutions.

Unfortunately, this ad tries to be about marijuana but should instead shift
focus toward the Bush administration's capability. Its logical flaws raise
questions about the connection between drugs and pregnancy and the problem
it presents is easily solvable.