Cut to an an 18-year-old girl with a pale complexion. She says, “I helped kill a judge.” Cut to a young dark-skinned girl aged no more than 15. She states: “I help blow up buildings.” Cut to yet another girl who looks about 20 years old. Very proudly and without any sign of remorse, she says, “My life, my body.” Cut to a black screen with the following words in bold white lettering: “DRUG MONEY SUPPORTS TERRORISM.” Cut to another black screen with the words: “IF YOU BUY DRUGS YOU MIGHT TOO.”
And so concludes what constitutes the federal government’s latest effort to rid our nation of illicit drugs. Chances are that you’ve seen this 30-second ad. It has been aired repeatedly since the night of the Super Bowl, and John P. Walters, director of the White House drug office, says that they will continue to air the commercial at least until the end of the summer.
This commercial, in an extremely dramatic and quite eerie fashion, links the purchase and consumption of illicit drugs with the war against terrorism. The commercial’s logic is very simple: Terrorist groups achieve funding through drug trafficking; if you buy or consume drugs, you are contributing to the survival of the drug trafficking industry; therefore, if you buy or consume drugs, you are indirectly funding terrorist groups and terrorist activities.
At first glance, this argument seems to make a lot of sense, especially to someone who doesn’t know too much about the link between drugs and terrorism. If I buy or consume drugs, I’m inadvertently helping out Osama Bin Laden, right? Actually, you probably aren’t.
Though it is true that certain terrorist organizations fund themselves through drug trafficking, most terrorist groups do not. In a New York Times article earlier this month, it was reported that the U.S. State Department had determined that out of 28 identified terrorist groups, less than half of these groups were linked to drug trafficking.
Yet in the federal government’s commercial, it clearly and confidently states that “drug money supports terrorism.” Is this statement true or false? Well, it certainly isn’t true for the more than half of the federally identified terrorist organizations that have no connection with drug trafficking. Though “drug money supports terrorism” is true in some cases, the commercial fails to inform the viewer that in most cases, it is simply not true. As a result, the viewer will most likely conclude that “drug money supports terrorism” is true for most, if not all cases. The federal government has successfully misled the viewer.
Take a look at this analogy. It has been reported that less than half of devoutly religious people engage in or support suicide bombings. Imagine that a Georgetown student, drawing from the aforementioned fact, placed fliers all around campus with the following statement in bold lettering: “Devoutly religious people support suicide bombings.” Though technically the statement is true, most people would say (and rightfully so) that the fliers are ridiculous and grossly misleading. The same holds true with the federal government’s drug/terrorism commercial.
The point of the commercial, however, isn’t to provide clear and detailed information to the American public about terrorist organizations. In this commercial, the federal government’s goal is to deter everyone (though especially youth) from getting involved with illicit drugs. Linking drugs to terrorism is just the best way to accomplish this goal (or so goes the thinking of the federal government). With this commercial, the federal government is essentially telling us that it’s more important for a person to stop smoking marijuana (or consuming any other illicit drug) than it is for a person to be clear on what he or she knows about terrorist organizations.
Not only is the drug/terrorism commercial incredibly misleading, but it is also offensive and could lead to discrimination for many Americans. For example, my friend Matt, who goes to college in Minnesota, smokes marijuana, but purchases it from a kid who lives across campus and grows his own supply. Clearly, Matt’s “drug money” only supports the kid who lives across campus and has no connection to any terrorist organization. So then, “drug money supports terrorism” simply isn’t true in the case of Matt either. The federal government is misleading viewers into thinking that people like Matt are supporting terrorism. Such thinking could very well lead viewers into treating people like Matt unfairly and in a discriminatory manner. If this ever happens (perhaps it already has), the federal government should be ashamed of itself.
All in all, this drug/terrorism commercial is a disgrace to our federal government. The more this commercial airs, the more mislead the American public becomes. If you’ve got a minute, tell them what you think.
John J. Murphy is a junior in the college. He is really pissed off at the federal government.
