MARIJUANA POLICY FAILS YOUTH

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The anti-pot ads are back -- and with a vengeance.

This fall marked the much-ballyhooed relaunch of the White House's National
Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, made possible with a new five year, $875
million commitment from Congress.

The decision to restart the campaign -- which has already spent some $2
billion in taxpayer dollars and matching funds to buy print and television
ads demonizing marijuana -- came despite a federal review that found teens
were more likely to use pot after seeing the government's public service
announcements. Reviewers called the results the worst ever recorded in the
history of public health campaigns.

So has the Drug Czar's office learned from their mistakes? From the looks
of the Feds' most recent round of propaganda-laced ads -- the latest of
which show two stereotypically stoned-out teens yukking it up until one
accidentally shoots the other with his father's handgun -- the answer is
no. It's too bad, because dissuading kids from using marijuana is one goal
that the public can all agree on. The political debate hinges on how we
strive to achieve it.

The Drug Czar argues that by enacting stiffer penalties for pot and
arresting adult marijuana users, we as a nation will dissuade children from
trying the drug. History has shown this logic to be patently false.

For example, federal studies have repeatedly found that teens living in
states that have stopped arresting pot offenders do not use cannabis with
any greater frequency than those who live in criminalized states.

Federal arrest data offers similar implications. As annual arrests for
marijuana soared to record levels in the 1990s, so did the number of teens
experimenting with marijuana. Clearly, children are basing their decision
regarding the use of marijuana on factors other than the law or the fear of
arrest.

Of course, this fact should come as little surprise to anyone who has
studied drug policy. Studies from the United States, Canada and abroad find
similar results -- noting that in virtually all cases, persons who have
stopped using pot or never used it in the first place did so because of
reasons other than the fact that marijuana is illegal.

Most respondents site health concerns, anticipated or actual dislike of the
drug, and family obligations as their chief reasons for abstaining. These
studies also note that one's difficulty or ease obtaining pot has little
influence on their decision to use it.

So then, should we expect our government to admit the error of their ways?
Don't count on it, since doing so would undermine the very foundation of
our nation's drug policy. Instead, we can anticipate more billion-dollar ad
campaigns pushing reefer madness rather than credible information. And we
can anticipate teen drug use to continue to rise as a result.

Fortunately, there is another way, and ironically, it's the Feds and public
health officials that have shown it to us. Rather than stay the course,
government officials ought to take a page from their more successful public
health campaigns to discourage teen pregnancy, drunk driving, and
adolescent tobacco smoking -- all of which have been significantly reduced
in recent years. Our nation has not achieved these results by banning the
use of alcohol and tobacco, or by targeting and arresting adults who use
these products responsibly, but through honest, health and science-based
education campaigns. Until the federal government applies these same
common-sense principles to the responsible use of marijuana, both their ad
campaigns as well as their national drug policy will inevitably be destined
to fail.

Regardless of which side of the drug war fence you sit on, that is sure to
be disappointing news.

- -- Paul Armentano is a Senior Policy Analyst for The NORML Foundation in
Washington, DC.