>From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: Partnership for a Drug-Fettered America >Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 15:35:46 -0800 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > >Pubdate: Sat, 08 January 2000 >Source: Tampa Tribune (FL) >Section: Nation/World, p.15, Saturday Forum >Copyright: 2000, The Tribune Co. >Contact: tribletters@tampatrib.com >Website: http://www.tampatrib.com/ >Forum: http://tampabayonline.net/interact/welcome.ht >Author: Dennis Hans > >PARTNERSHIP IGNORES MOST HARMFUL, READILY AVAILABLE DRUG OF >ALL. > >This is your brain (I'm holding an egg.) This is what President >Clinton, Congress and the mis-named Partnership for a >Drug-Free-America think of your brain's capacity to detect hypocrisy. >(I'm squishing the egg.) > >In the most arresting television advertisement in the government's >anti-drug media campaign, a young woman smashes dishes with a frying >pan to indicate the hell a family goes through when a member is hooked >on heroin. If she had swung only slightly less violently, she would >have indicated the hell a family goes through when a member is hooked >on alcohol. Nevertheless, the drug alcohol is excluded from the >category "drug" for the purposes of the ad campaign. > >It's true that the campaign is restricted to illegal drugs, but >alcohol is illegal for the primary target audience, kids. And kids use >alcohol essentially for the same reasons they use other mind-altering >substances. Alcohol is also the drug that children (and their parents) >are most likely to abuse. It is also the drug that is heavily - and >deceptively - marketed to Americans of all ages by the same >advertising industry and networks creating and airing the "anti-drug" >spots. > >DOES ANYONE HAVE a problem with this? Yes. Legitimate organizations >seeking to reduce the harm caused by alcohol and other drugs - and by >draconian, unequally enforced drug laws - have a problem with this. >But there's nothing legitimate about the Partnership for a Drug-Free >America, or, as I prefer to call it the Partnership for a >Drunken-Spree America. > >The partnership's de facto purpose is to ensure that the words >"alcohol" and "drugs" are not linked in popular consciousness. If, as >its name implies, the partnership is an anti-drug organization, and it >collaborates with the government and networks on massive anti-drug >campaigns, and these campaigns ignore alcohol, and the ads are >interspersed among commercials glamorizing alcohol, then the implicit >message is that alcohol is not a drug. > >Ah, but the partnership is not an anti-drug organization. It is an >anti-illegal-drug organization. Its mission, as stated at its Web site >(www.drugfreeamerica.org), "is to reduce the demand for illicit drugs >in America through media communication." And a fine mission it is for >an outfit that proudly declares that its "heart and soul" is the >advertising industry, which labors mightily to increase the demand for >potentially dangerous illegal drugs. > >The fact that alcohol is legal (for adults) and is enjoyed safely by >tens of millions does not erase the approximate 100,000 annual deaths >(compared with 14,000 for all illicit drugs combined) or the 12 >million addicts and several million at-risk problem drinkers. The fact >that alcohol has ripped a greater hole in our social fabric than all >illicit drugs would seem to call for a massive partnership campaign >promoting both abstinence and safe-drinking guidelines (no more than >two drinks per day for adult men, one for women) for those who choose >to drink. > >At the Web site, the Partnership boasts that it doesn't accept money >from alcohol manufacturers. Left unsaid is that it did so until 1997. >That's the sort of parsing one expects from the president, which >perhaps explains his affinity for the Partnership. > >The Web site does contain valuable information about a variety of >drugs, including alcohol. But the alcohol information appears to be a >recent addition to cover the partnership's tail as "alcohol" is the >last drug in an otherwise alphabetized list. > >Here are a few questions not posed at the partnership's Web >site: > >Do drug treatment professionals award addicts of legal drugs gold >stars for not breaking the law? Does little Johnny take solace in the >fact that it is alcohol, not illegal crack, that his dad takes before >beating him and his mom? Do parents turn cartwheels when they learn >their frat-boy son's cause of death was chug-a-lugging booze rather >than mainlining heroin? > >If you're not affiliated with the partnership, you probably answered >no. > >If we could just get our networks and statesmen into treatment for >their addiction to booze industry money, they might emerge >clear-headed enough to see the value of incorporating alcohol in a >revamped anti-drug campaign designed by a legitimate organization >skilled in the art of honest communication, not cynical manipulation. >Such a campaign would: > >o Make clear the generic term "drugs" includes alcohol; > >o Devote the most attention to the drug wreaking the most >havoc; > >o Force the alcohol industry and its media beneficiaries to >acknowledge they are in the drug-promotion business and thus part of >the problem; > >o Make the campaign relevant to more people, because Americans are >much more likely to live with or know an alcoholic than a pothead, >coke fiend or junkie; > >o Deliver realistic and subtle messages acknowledging that drug use >doesn't necessarily lead to abuse, that some drugs are more dangerous >than others and that patterns of usage of less dangerous drugs such as >alcohol and marijuana help to determine the likelihood of later abuse; > >o Emphasize that the earlier in life one starts using even the less >dangerous drugs, the greater the risk of abuse or addiction. > >Children and their parents just might appreciate the honesty. Such >messages just might promote more rational discussion than an actress >smashing dishes with a frying pan. > >[Dennis Hans is a writer and teacher in St. Petersburg.] > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: