Should national television ads be advocating invasive techniques for drug prevention and detection rather than working to promote education and awareness?

Have you seen these commercials?

We've had anything from
"Truth:...
"Sports:... (featuring Tiki or Ronde Barber)
"Music:... (kid with headphones)
"Art:... (comics to escape drugs)
"Questions: the Anti-Drug"

I don't remember the order in which these anti-drug campaign commercials were released, but I have issues with the "Questions:..." one in which they feature a dad all throughout the house and in the backyard. I haven't been able to find a transcript for the commercial and I can't summon it on television to give you a verbatim recap, but it essentially urges parents to "snoop, spy and sneak" to find out whether their children are involved in drugs.

Now, the commercial does advocate other methods in addition to such methods, but I find it ill advised to even promote such methods through a national campaign in the first place. Where will it stop? How will those kids well raised and distanced from the drug scene react to their parents invasive methods?

Being an under 60 seconds commercial the ad is only able to hint at what to do when kids question such gestapo tactics. It goes something like:


I'm not discounting the value these anti-drug commercials have on both children and parents, but I deplore the advocacy of snooping and spying as effective means of parental intervention, rather than sticking with a campaign of increased education and awareness. Why can't the parents just talk or ask their children questions as the campaign title implies?

If a parent discovers a child's use of narcotics through invasive means, they will applaud the method. But at what cost to the bonds of trust and respect to the child? And what of those parents with drug-free children who find the method ineffectual? Many parents will run the expected risk of severely damaging relationships.

The questions I think should be asked and debated are highlighted in bold print. I look forward to getting the insight of others on this!

A part of the job of being a parent is 'snooping'. And your kids should expect it. And hopefully they will learn its value with their own children.

Yes, dialogue is important, but so is verification.

Shouldn't you try to maintain an open and divulgent relationship with your children so they feel they don't have the need to hide anything from you? And you don't have a need to snoop?

The problem I see with this particular ad (I could go on at unsurprising length about anti-drug ads in general) is that it doesn't so much encourage snooping on the part of parents as much as lying on the part of kids. How many sixteen-year-olds, when asked by a parent, are gonna say "Yeah, Dad, I have the occasional joint - what's the problem?" or "Sure, Mom, I hang out with guys who trip every week-end"? Such questions only work when the real answer also happens to be the one that kids think their parents expect.

For what it's worth, my partner and I didn't have to worry much about "snooping" to know what our kids were up to - most of the time, we were doing drugs with them. Of course, one of our sons had a heroin habit when we took him in and, obviously, the establishment of openness and trust was an issue from day one. That being a given, there was very little to hide from the outset - and we all learned a lot from each other.

No, they don't do a damn thing.
As a student, I've seen the effects of them, all those anti-drug campaigns the goverment has spent billions on... zero. There are NO results for them to go on. Not a one.
My decision to be straight edge (If you don't know what this means... go here to read about it) had nothing to do with the government campaigns, and I don't know anybody who made the decision becuase of those ads either. All those ads do is waste money and make some people feel like they're helping kids get off drugs. They aren't.
My anti-drug is myself. Selfish? Yes. I'm straight edge for myself and nobody else... That's the only reason anybody can ever choose to be drug-free, becuase they want to be.

Ugh, those commercials make me cringe.
I especially hate the one with the middle-aged couple looking sadly at a pregnancy test "This family is going to have a new addition, unfortunately their 14 year old daughter is the mother. Marijuana: More Harmful Than We All Thought." (ok, that isn't an exact quote, but that's the gist of it) and then it pans to the pathetic looking young girl, sitting on a toilet seat, hair and head firmly grasped by her clenching hands, agonizing over the error of her ways, etc, etc...
Please.
How is this informative? Seems more like your typical manipulative government propaganda to me.
I am totally against the WoD (War on Drugs) because I think 90% of the problem with drugs are directly related to illegality and misinformation.
But apparently, according to this commercial, if you smoke it you will inevitably become pregnant and disappoint your parents like this poor, young girl.
If you (the govt.) *really* don't want people to take drugs "for their own safety" you should worry more about those which are really harmful, like heroine which can (and will) directly effect your body instead of parading around with a tacky barrage of misinformative drivel, based on "what if's," and present some *facts* to the public if you want to push your case.

I don't know if the increasingly simplistic and heavy-handed approach of the War on Drugs is a part of this Administration's fondness for simplistic rhetoric and heavy-handed tactics, but I suspect there's a cause-and-effect going on here.

At any rate...

While I feel it's important as a parent to monitor my child's behavior and talk openly to them about the detrimental aspects of drugs, I won't try to sell them a message I don't believe in myself. I smoked grass and I didn't turn out a raving psycho or impregnate my girlfriend while under the influence or develop a sudden craving for a sack of White Castle hamburgers (okay, that last part is true I will admit).

The not-so-subtle message being pushed by these commericals is that it's alright to snoop on your children because they don't have any rights you have to feel obligated to respect. Well, while I do have a responsibility to give them the facts about drugs, I'm going to try and give them a "fair and balanced" presentation about drug usage.

When they start making commericals showing nice white Republican bankers being busted for money laundering drug profits and being dragged off to jail, that's when I'll start taking these messages seriously.

What is this, a child advocacy thread?

Of course parents should snoop, if necessary. Believe it or not, most teenagers don't feel comfortable around their parents (or parent). They tend to keep to themselves because their parents "don't understand me". Of course its not true, because we were all teens once, subjected to those same pressures and situations.

Those ads are targetted at informing parents, and giving them insights into how to help their child stay out of trouble:

1. Parents being interested in what their kids are doing (this is the number one "Keep your kids out of trouble" strategy that I could advocate.)
2. Getting kids involved in activities that are a little more productive, give them a creative vent, or just occupy their hands. "Idle hands are the devil's workshop" is an old saying, but still has truth to it.
3. Obviously, communicating with your children is a vital key. However, many kids shut out their parents. Also, some parents may not have had the best relationship with their child, but that does not excuse them from their parental duty.

Not suprisingly, these same techniques will help with gang involvement, general juvenile delinquency, schoolwork and a host of other problems that kids go through.

What are they informing parents of...?
Are they serving to educate parents so they can have informed discussions with their children? My father worries about my younger brother and is well accquainted with the commercials. Yet I've had to give him virtually all the information he has on popular drugs like marijuana and ecstacy. As far as he knew he was just supposed to sit down, tell my little brother not to do drugs and snoop around behind his back because the first advised tactic (uneducated discussion) was essentially useless.

If the parents are interested and involved in the activities of their children, won't the children be informed of the dangers connected with drugs and peer pressure, thus being capable of avoiding such dangers? And, just going off experiences in my life and those close to me, children whose parents play a key role in their lives are less likely to participate in drug activity -- and if they do, they do so responsibly with nonaddictive substances.

Just to reiterate my point from earlier... how are they informing? The ads advocate sitting down and discussing drugs without providing parents with useful information. The ads then contradict themselves by assuming discussion is not enough and that invasions of privacy are necessary. Regardless of the parent-child relationship, such invasions will only encourage (IMO) children to shut their parents out more, feeling betrayed by the mistrust and invasion.

That is my point. The ads are for those who do not have peachy relationships with their children, or those who have no idea how to approach them. It gives them a starting point.

Snooping? Parents need to know the truth--get the connection : "TRUTH: THE ANTI-DRUG"?




Strategies. What do you expect in 60 seconds? They are trying to raise awareness somewhat. It's not a seminar. Parents need to be prodded to be involved with their children.

Whether or not these ads are effective or not...who can say?

Ah, I can vouch for the dangers of heroin. I've seen the effects of it first hand. It's really... not pretty. However, I do know that the friend of mine who was invovled in it would not have been helped by government intervention. He would probablly still be addicted... He ended up quitting because he wanted to (he's straight edge now) and like I said, that's the only reason anybody does quit. 12-step programs are crap and locking people in jail makes them worse. There's only one step, and you have to want it, and that step is -
1. Stop.
Drugs are bad, and people trying to "help" by wasting billions of government $$ are just as bad.
I also know that those commericals don't make parents suddenly "intrested." Either they are or they aren't... I also know that snooping parents and teachers and even cops are actually getting more kids into things like alcohol and regular smoking. I've never had people butting into my life and private business, and I'm cleaner than a bar of soap. Clean is good.

I also saw the commercials. I saw the one with the girl who supposedly got pregnant while smokeing pot. OH PLEASE!!!! I would bet my bottom dollar most of the girls who get pregnant were not using pot at the time they had intercourse.
As sor snooping parents, I raised 3 kids. Jaime and her brother and sister by myself since they were 17, 14, and 10. When my ex was around he tried to read a note Jaime had left laying around. I asked what the hell are you doing? He said I want to see what the note says. I told him to put that down and don't ever do that again.
I have never snooped on any of them. And I never would.
Yes kids at a certain age will think that parents don't understand them and don't feel comfortable around their parents. I know when we went to the mall there was a time they would go off with their siblings and we would meet back at a certain spot at a certain time.
It that a reason to snoop? Hell no.
Talk to your kids. Yeah they won't tell you everything, but because they don't DOES NOT MEAN they are doing drugs.
Give them their privacy. I know I would not want them to snoop on me.
And believe it or not they get over that uncomfortable feeling towards their parents and become their own individuals and fine young men and women.
I wish the government would learn how to spend money more on education, health insurance, and the list could go on, than waste money on these commercials that do nothing to change how you should talk and educate your OWN children.

Let's see, I have been a child. I learned to be very sneaky--what my folks didn't know would not upset them.

Then I helped raise a kid. She learned to be very sneaky, too.

What I did not know did not upset me.

Somehow, we all survived.

Guess I don't watch enough TV to have much of an opinion on the ads, and when ads come on, so does the mute button

Waste of money, I suppose.

I haven't seen the commercials, because I don't watch television. I do, however, remember some commercials (years ago) advocating snooping on your kids and locking them up if they have something a parent might construe as a 'behavior problem'. IOW, they would show a parent and teen arguing and the kid would slam a door. Next, the parent would call a mental institution and explain his child was difficult. The next scene would show a happy, well- adjusted teen coming home after his stay at the 'home' and hugging the parent.

Those commercials sicken me. There is a point between babyhood and adulthood that a parent needs to allow the child a bit of autonomy and privacy. This doesn't begin the day the child leaves home, it should begin before then. There is no magical age for this, but if there is an open line of reasonable communication within the house (and the parent leads by example, not just authority) it should become evident.
I will never forget the betrayal I felt when I found my mother "cleaning" my purse when I was around 17. It caused a rift between us, and did irreparable damage to our relationship.