Drug czar McCaffrey and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America are at it again. In their latest multibillion-dollar boondoggle, they intend to inundate the country with TV ads that will show housewives breaking up the kitchen and smashing eggs with a frying pan. I suppose this is the same frying pan that once held fried eggs that our kids were told their brains would turn into if they used drugs.
It is amazing to think that people who are in favor of sensible reform of our drug laws were referred to by McCaffrey recently as "a kind of a fringe group." This ad campaign seems as weird and far out as any '60s long-hair to me. While most drug policy reformers are all for effective efforts to reduce teen drug use, few believe that another ad campaign rife with inaccuracies, half-truths and outright fabrications will have even a minimal impact on teen drug use.I fervently hope those American citizens who haven't already realized that the drug war is responsible for monumental waste and increased teen drug use will wise up after this latest failed and expensive effort has run its course.
I also hope that our young people can avoid the real danger of busting a gut in uncontrolled fits of laughter while watching these ridiculous ads. They will also be laughing at an adult population that thinks we can convince them of the dangers of uncontrolled drug use by smashing dishes.
Jeremy Cranfill
Salt Lake City