“You killed me. You killed me … There was a bomb. I was going to school …You bought drugs. You gave them money. They can’t do things like that without money. It’s the money.”
This explosive language jumps out of several new anti-drug commercials released during this year’s Super Bowl by the office of National Drug Control Policy. The commercials try to establish a link between drugs, terror and violence – a link that some at Fairfield University are questioning.
“I don’t think there is any stronger connection between drugs and terrorism than there is between oil and terrorism,” said Dr. Alan Katz, a politics professor at Fairfield University. “I think the [Bush] administration is trying to blame everything on terrorism. I think it’s shameless.”
“If there is a connection at all between drugs and terrorism, the commercials exaggerate it,” said Maureen Hession, ’06. “Clearly, drug abuse is a problem, but these commercials go about it the wrong way. I think they [the commercials] make kids more curious about drugs, and I think they’re a waste of money.”
Other scholars agree that many products the average American consumes can directly and indirectly fund terrorism.
“In effect, almost every product we use can be somehow correlated to support terrorism,” said Dr. Dan Martorella of Fairfield University’s sociology department. “How we heat our homes, the products we buy, and the food we eat generates profit. The assertion is that a percentage of that profit may be funneled to support terrorist groups. Even the money we donate to some organizations may find its way to support anti-American groups. We can draw an association to anything and everything.”
Even with the wide array of products that may support terrorism, the Bush administration is adamant that the connection between drug use and terrorism is strongest.
The U.S. Department of State cites 12 of the 28 recognized terror organizations as being involved in the illegal drug trade, including the Taliban regime, Peru’s Shining Path and The United Self Defense Forces of Columbia.
The recent surge in anti-drug commercials comes as part of Bush’s three-step, $19 billion dollar anti-drug initiative, introduced in early 2002.
The media campaign was given an additional $180 million for advertisements for the 2003 fiscal year.
Despite the massive spending, ONDCP reports released in late January provide evidence that the overall media campaign is having little to no effect.
“There is no statistically significant change for the full 12 to 18-year-old sample in intentions to use marijuana once or twice over the five waves of measurement among prior nonusers,” the ONDCP reported in its fifth semiannual evaluation of the anti-drug media campaign.
“There is, however, a small trend, unfavorable to the Campaign, on marijuana intentions among 14 to 18-year-old nonusers,” the report added.
Still, Martorella argues that programs that address social issues such as drug use are vital to our society. “I believe any educational outreach into addressing social problems is a worthwhile venture. The benefits of such a program far outweigh the costs.
“People become educated to the fact that the use of illegal drugs is not an individual problem, but a problem that manifests itself into social dysfunctions such as crime, poverty, domestic violence, child abuse, etcetera,” Martorella added.
Fairfield students said that the campaign fails because it doesn’t address any drugs besides marijuana. “If anything, they [the commercials] should inform kids about alcohol abuse,” said Merry Bonacci, ’06. “More kids drink alcohol than use drugs.”
“I don’t think it’s OK to deceive people,” Bonacci added. “They shouldn’t relate two totally different issues. I’m not saying these issues aren’t important, they just need to educate people in a different way. Lots of people look at the commercials and think they are ridiculous.”
Despite the criticism, President Bush’s budget for the fiscal year of 2004 calls for another $170 million for advertising.
“This is inciting fear,” said Katz. “If you stop doing drugs, terrorism will go away? No. Life is a little more complicated than that.”
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