-----Original Message-----
From: owner-canada@drugsense.org [mailto:owner-canada@drugsense.org] On Behalf Of T.J. Meehan
Sent: 18 November, 2010 10:48 AM
To: aro@drugsense.org; canada@drugsense.org
Subject: CANADA: Canada: New anti-drug campaign produces partisan attacks over drug policy from Conservative MP/police officer Shelly Glover
IMHO the Tories have done us a favour by putting drug policy into the political realm. This story ran in PostMedia (formerly Canwest) newspapers across Canada.
View the spot here:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hc-ps/drugs-drogues/youth-jeunes/tv-not4me-odrogue-eng.php
"A girl hangs out in her room while a creepy voiceover sings an old children's ditty with the words changed; "One two, kicked out of school" and "three, four, snort some more." The voiceover follows with "five, six, need my fix" and then "seven, eight, it feels too late."
The girl is trashing her room and finally, appears in a jail cell. The way it is photographed even looks creepy and dreamlike."
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Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Date: November 17, 2010
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Partisan+jabs+anti+drug+campaign+announced/3845600/story.html
Partisan jabs fly as anti-drug campaign announced
OTTAWA - The launch of a new anti-drug campaign by the federal government took a decidedly partisan turn Wednesday when Conservative MP Shelly Glover suggested that Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff finds it acceptable for youth to smoke marijuana.
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and Glover were announcing a new television and social media advertising campaign aimed at teenagers and Glover took the opportunity to make a jab at Ignatieff.
"It's very disturbing as a parent, and as a police officer for almost
19 years, to hear the opposition, in fact the Liberal leader, say to our children that it is OK to take marijuana in small doses," the Manitoba MP said during her prepared remarks. She repeated her comment in French.
When she was asked by the media to explain what she meant, and if Ignatieff has ever actually said to children that he has no problem with them doing drugs, Glover read a quote from Ignatieff where he said he supports the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana and that he doesn't comment on the "personal lifestyle choices" of his friends or colleagues.
"That tells my children that a leader in our country is OK if they're carrying small amounts of marijuana, it's OK if his colleagues are personally using, when the laws in this country clearly say it is illegal," Glover said.
Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe has also expressed support for changes to marijuana laws, Glover said.
"My children need to hear the message very clearly from all leaders, from all government officials that marijuana use, simple possession of marijuana is illegal and there are consequences. The biggest consequences to them is the destruction of their lives," said Glover.
Ignatieff's office said Glover took the leader's quote out of context and omitted the last line of it where he said he does not want to legalize marijuana.
The Liberal party's current position is that it would consider, but has not committed to, re-introducing an old Liberal bill that would eliminate criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana and would instead introduce fines.
Liberal justice critic Marlene Jennings said the party doesn't support people using illegal drugs, but recognizes that people don't always follow the laws, and the Liberals don't believe a young person in particular should carry a criminal record for the rest of their lives, possibly preventing them from entering the United States or pursuing careers, if they are caught with a small amount of a "soft" drug.
Jennings said police agencies back that position and agree their time is better spent going after major grow ops and organized crime than teenagers with a joint. The Liberal party's position is not the same thing as condoning the use of drugs by young people, Jennings said.
"Ms. Glover's statements and distortion of what Mr. Ignatieff actually said is despicable but not surprising coming from a Conservative,"
said Jennings.
She also fought back against Glover's partisan jab and added a harsh statement of her own, saying the Conservative MP gives police officers "a bad name."
"I don't think she's worthy to wear the uniform of a police officer with what she's doing," said Jennings.
Jennings said she wasn't surprised that Glover injected partisanship into a straightforward announcement because the Conservatives "politicize everything."
The new advertising campaign features a television spot that Aglukkaq described as dramatic and graphic. It can be viewed at www.drugsnot4me.ca. It's aimed at 13-to-15-year-olds and the government is also trying to reach youth with its anti-drug message through a Facebook page and other social media websites.
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Newshawk: CMAP http://www.mapinc.org/cmap
Pubdate: Thursday, November 18, 2010
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/
Author: Russell Barth
Kids will see laughable drug video as 'not4me'
People should take a look at the most recent TV spot that Health Canada is running to try and prevent kids from using drugs.
The "drugsnot4me" campaign video is a total embarrassment due to the over-the-top rhetoric which generates fear rather than educates youth.
Readers can see the video on the Health Canada website:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hc-ps/drugs-drogues/youth-jeunes/tv-not4me-odrogue-eng.php
It is an eye-rollingly laughable and embarrassingly lame attempt to both appeal to and frighten kids. "Just say no" was a joke in the 1980s when I was a teen, as was the "This is your brain on drugs"
commercial where the girl trashes the house with a frying pan. Now this same, worn-out, proven-failure method of fear-mongering and lying is being rehashed and spewed at your kids.
These ads will run on TV alongside commercials for booze, erection pills, junk food, violent movies, video games, and fast cars. If history is any indication, these new ads -- which you all paid for, by the way -- will likely have no effect on most smart kids who will try drugs, and cause the ones who don't to laugh even more heartily at adults' silly attempts to prevent teen drug use.
Does anyone still believe that kids actually buy these ridiculous ruses?
Our government does. For those keen on teaching kids about drugs without the hyperbole of the standard "education" programs, I recommend the Canadian Students For Sensible Drug Policy website atwww.cssdp.org, the Educators For Sensible Drug Policy website at www.efsdp.org or the Law Enforcement Against Prohibition website at www.leap.cc.
Russell Barth,
Ottawa
Educators for Sensible Drug Policy
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