LET THE ANTI-DRUG ADS CONTINUE

Most liberals hate those spots linking drug use to terrorism. But as
a former drug abuser, I think exposing the seamy drug-trafficking
underworld is a fair way to make kids think twice.

The anti-drug ads broadcast during last week's Super Bowl drew howls
from critics, and the howling may well continue: Reportedly those ads
were just the beginning of a new ad campaign by the Office of
National Drug Control Policy to convince kids to just say no.
Liberals are among the loudest critics of the new ad campaign, but I
happen to think the government is right to do what it can to persuade
children not to buy illegal drugs -- and I like the new ads.

The two ads, in case you missed them, are called "AK 47" and "I
Helped." The ads don't mention specific drugs -- marijuana, heroin,
speed, cocaine, ecstasy, nicotine, caffeine or Johnny Walker Red --
but they're clearly aimed at illegal drugs for which an underground
economy exists.

One of the ads features the faces and voices of teenagers in a sort
of call and response pattern: Stark admissions of wrongdoing -- "I
helped murder families in Colombia"; "I helped kill policemen"; "I
helped a bomber get a fake passport" -- are answered by spineless
justifications -- "It was just innocent fun"; "I was just having
fun"; "All the kids do it." It ends with the words on the screen:
"Drug money supports terror. If you buy drugs you might too."

Still, as an argument for thinking twice about buying illegal drugs,
I think the ads are effective. And I think those who find fault with
the ads ought to pause and consider whether in this case the
life-and- death importance of the message trumps the contradictions
and rhetorical excesses of its delivery.