The U.S. government's most recent anti-drug campaign, claiming the purchase of illegal drugs funds terrorism, may be scaring teenagers straight.
According to two White House reports released earlier this month, the ads, which officially began running during last year's Super Bowl, have reduced the number of teenagers who use drugs by more than 15 percent.
The White House, together with the Office of National Drug Control Policy, conducted two surveys to test the effectiveness of the newest in a long line of anti-drug campaigns, said Rafael Lemaitre, the office's deputy press secretary.
Lemaitre said the campaigns are getting results stopping illegal drug use in the United States.
"There is undeniable proof that American drug consumers are the largest funder of anti-Democratic activity on the hemisphere," he said. "Because of the results of our research, it is no longer possible for the middle-American teenager to not realize the implications of buying drugs."
Of the more than 30,000 teenagers who participated in the surveys, the majority said advertisements relating drug use to terrorism have gotten their attention.
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The advertisements, which link buying drugs and drug trafficking to supporting terrorist groups, are meant to prove that drug use may be more dangerous than previously thought, said White House Spokesman John Walters.
"They (ads) are designed to promote a national disapproval of drug use that is needed to reduce the human, social and financial costs of this deadly behavior," Walters said.
Many UNM students, however, believe the advertising campaign is unethical and think the ads are ridiculous.
"I'm all for stopping illegal drug use, but linking it to terrorism is just wrong," said UNM alumnus Craig Pacheco. "They are manipulating the fear associated with terrorism to their advantage. I really don't believe buying a bag of weed in New Mexico is helping any terrorist group."
Lemaitre said, though, that international terror groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia claim that between 50-70 percent of their budget comes from the American drug trade.
A recent study by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 49 percent of teenagers who had high exposure to the advertising were unlikely to participate in illegal drug use.
Robert San Roman, the New Mexico State Police's public information officer, said the advertisements have found success in New Mexico as well.
"It is an extremely effective way of deterring some action by linking it to terrorism, especially after Sept. 11," San Roman said. "The advertising has been extremely effective in reducing the use of drugs of all kinds. It applies a level of guilt to the act. It really makes a person think about what they're doing."
San Roman couldn't provide any statistics regarding the decline in drug use in New Mexico as a result of the advertising, but said "there has been a definite drop."
Walters said the U.S. government admits to playing off the fear associated with terrorism to deter drug use but that the link between the two is valid.
"What we do here in the U.S. really does have worldwide implications," Walters said. "We are not our own little world here. The sooner we realize that, the better off we will be."
