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Lothar121

Study: Anti-pot Ads Are Dopey
Greg Gatlin | Boston Herald | 05/27/2005

Advertisements might work to warn young people off of cigarettes, but they're not buying it when it comes to anti-pot ads, a new study says.

The research, commissioned by the Marijuana Policy Project, a group advocating pot decriminalization, says government-sponsored anti-marijuana ads aren't having the desired effect.

In fact, Texas State University researchers who conducted the study say the ads might actually ``boomerang'' - producing the opposite effect.

In the study, scientists had 123 Texas State University students watch both anti-pot and anti-tobacco ads.

Ads included a spot showing teens getting high in a car at a fast-food drive-thru, then unwittingly driving into a young girl on a bike.

Harvey Ginsberg, a Texas State University psychology professor and the study's senior author, said written responses from study participants were surprising.

"They wanted to know what kind of parents are letting a child ride on busy intersection unattended, and so forth,'' he said.

But a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy dismissed the study as "sloppy science bought and paid for by the pro-marijuana legalization lobby.''

Spokesman Rafael Lemaitre said college students aren't the target audience for his group's advertising.

"We're trying to reach younger viewers in their teens,'' Lemaitre said. "We know if can reach that audience, we can prevent them from using drugs in the first place.''

Lemaitre added that ads are tested extensively on focus groups.

He claimed spots have made "a huge impact,'' pointing to an 18 percent drop in pot use over three years.

But Ginsberg said the government is crediting its advertising for a trend already in progress. Both marijuana and tobacco use reached in the 1990s and have since been falling.

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Higher Logic

But a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy dismissed the study as "sloppy science bought and paid for by the pro-marijuana legalization lobby.''

If that isn't calling the kettle black What do you think the ONDCP has been relying on all this time? Actual scientific evidence?! They are NOTHING but sloppy science BOUGHT and PAID for by the government to push an agenda. What a load of horse feces.

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Buzzby

Before I read HL's response I was going to quote the same line he did and start off my response with almost the same phrase, "If that isn't the pot calling the kettle black!"

If prohibitionists, who hold power in the government, will only authorize "research" aimed at vilifying marijuana, that's "scientific". If anti-prohibitionists sponsor a study that shows the prohibitionist's propaganda is counterproductive it's "sloppy science". What self-serving drivel!

How do they "know" that? From the fried-egg "Your Brain on Drugs" ads to the one where the stoner pulls a gun out of a desk and blows away his buddy, everyone I've ever talked to either laughs at the stupidity of these ads or gets angry about the lies. Do they think young teens are going to buy into this bullsh*t when they personally know pot smokers who are suffering no ill effects?

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RL in IL

I say look who's talking. They don't even want to debate any of the various medical marijuana groups. The Drug Czar comes in to a lecture with armed guards, props up in front of the audience, then is escorted out. It's crazy. Why won't they even have a two-way talk with the public or the groups that represent the public's side ?

PotShot

Everyone else reacted to this, but...

Sloppy science?

Sloppy science?

Sloppy science?

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asakite

I thought sloppy science was the Clinton administration stance on masturbation.

AK