Pubdate: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 Source: Technician, The (NC State U, NC Edu) Copyright: 2006 The Technician Contact: http://technicianonline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2268 Author: Jeff Gaither Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) TALKING DOPE WITH THE PRESIDENT This summer I was called to the White House to fulfill an important mission. The president met me on the White House lawn. We greeted each other, and then he said, "Jeff, do you remember all those anti-drug commercials we ran a couple of years ago? Where the kid got stoned and then shot his friend? Or where buying weed was supposed to support terrorism?" "Darn tootin' I remember 'em," I replied. "They were the stupidest thing I've ever seen." "A lot of other people thought so too," replied the president. "That's why we're planning a new series of anti-drug commercials. And I'm hoping you'll be willing to watch a few of 'em, and give us your opinion." "How could I judge these commercials?" I asked. "I don't know anything about drugs." We laughed at this for a little while. Then the president and I walked into the White House theater, and sat down in the comfy leather seats. The lights went down, and the first commercial began to play. An enormously fat kid was sitting alone on a leather couch in some middle-class American home. The kid packed up a bong, took a giant hit and then coughed mightily. Then he picked up the phone and said, "I'd like to order an extra-large supreme pizza and a large box of cinnamon sticks." The words "An hour later" flashed across the screen, and then the kid was sitting on the couch, clutching his stomach, an empty pizza box on the table in front of him. A voice said, "The munchies. If you don't want to be hideously fat, don't smoke marijuana." The President looked at me. "So what do you think, Jeff?" "Well, it's sort of accurate," I replied. "There are a lot of people who smoke pot all the time, get the munchies, and get fat. But it doesn't happen in every instance; there are plenty of skinny drug-users." "But it happens in some instances, right?" said the President. "As opposed to shooting your friend, which NEVER happens?" "True," I admitted. "Let's see the next one." The screen switched to a house party. There were a bunch of young people standing around, drinks in their hands, talking and laughing. One partygoer, however, was not enjoying the festivities. He was standing awkwardly in a corner, a cup in his hand, looking very much out of place. An attractive young woman came up to him and said, "Hey, aren't you in my biology class?" The young man mumbled, "Yes," without a smile; and the girl stood there a moment, turned off by the young man's nervousness, then walked away. "Marijuana," said the voice-over. "It'll make you self-conscious, and prevent you from talking to people." The screen went blank again. I said, "Well, again, President Bush, that happens in some instances, but not always. There are plenty of people who can get high and still retain their social skills." "But it happens in some instances," the President replied. "Good. That's all we're shooting for. Here, watch this next one." The scene changed again and we now beheld a dorm room, in which a young man sat studying, an expression of boredom and disgust on his face. Suddenly the young man cried out, "This sucks! I know all this, I don't need to study!" He slammed the book shut, pulled out his pipe and began to hit it. The scene changed, and now the young man was in a classroom, getting back his test, which had a big red "58" scrawled at the top. "Marijuana," said the voice-over. "It's hard to study when you've got a big sack of weed in your drawer." "Well," I said, "that's more accurate than the other two. But it's not completely true. I know people who smoke pot and have 4.0s. Was that the last one?" "Yes, that's all," said President Bush. "So what'd you think?" "Well, Mr. President, your commercials are fairly accurate. They describe, pretty correctly, some of the negative effects marijuana can have upon a person's life. But you must keep in mind that marijuana is not always a bad thing. There are plenty of people who smoke it regularly, and still lead healthy, successful lives." "Yes," said the President, "No doubt that's true. But for most people, marijuana does more harm than good. Most marijuana users would have better, more fulfilling lives if they'd never taken that first hit." "That's probably true," I conceded. "So you might as well make it illegal, and run commercials condemning it, to keep people from starting. Okay, touche." "By the way," I added, "is this war with Iraq gonna' end anytime soon?" "Sure," said the President, "just as soon as we hunt down every single hostile insurgent in an uncharted desert of 160,000 square miles." "I think marijuana will be legal first," I replied. We shook hands, and I walked out onto Pennsylvania Avenue. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin