TV ADVERTS LINK DRUGS TO TERROR

THE Bush Administration has made the fight against drugs part of the War on
Terror with an advertising campaign that warns users of illegal drugs that
they could be aiding terrorists.

The British director Tony Kaye, best known for the film American History X,
made two adverts that opened the $10 million (£7 million) campaign during
television coverage of the Super Bowl on Sunday night.

"Where do terrorists get their money?" asked one of the adverts, which
showed a terrorist buying explosives and weapons. "If you buy drugs, some
of it might come from you."

The White House Office of National Drug Control believes that about half
the organisations on the State Department's list of terrorist groups are
funded by drug-trafficking.

The campaign aims to exploit the patriotic mood of young people since
September 11. "It's so important for Americans to know that the traffic in
drugs finances the work of terror . . . that terrorists use drug profits to
fund their cells to commit acts of murder," President Bush said. "If you
quit drugs, you join the fight against terror in America."

The campaign will highlight the use of drug profits by the ousted Taleban
regime in Afghanistan and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

It is the first time that the White House has based its anti-drugs policy
on linking buying drugs on the street to crimes committed by terrorist
organisations. Previous initiatives, such as Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No"
campaign, have focused on how drug abusers harm themselves.