Drug Czar Achieves Epic Fail
October 9th, 2008 by Alex
Turns out that government agencies don’t like being called out on their absolute failures. What a surprise right? Since the ONDCP (Office of National Drug Control Policy) hasn’t come close to achieving its stated goals, the top brass has decided to just say they have and hope no one does a fact check.
People such as Scott Burns, the Deputy ONDCP Director, are saying that drug use in America is down dramatically since 2001. Hmmm, not according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
A recent article on AlterNet cites just a few of the failures of the Bush administration’s drug policy:
ONDCP has not even come close to meeting its goal of reducing illegal drug use by 25 percent by 2007 in any age group. In fact, among adults, overall illegal drug use actually increased 4.7% from 2002 to 2007. Teen marijuana use is down a bit but still remains common: One in nine (12 percent) 14- and 15-year-olds and one in four (23.7 percent) 16- and 17-year-olds used marijuana in 2007.
Nothing spells success like ~25% of teenagers having admitted to pot use! Or how about getting contradicted by your own government’s studies? Ouch.
The best part is the amount of taxpayer dollars this agency has wasted since drug czar John Walters’ ascension to the position. Here’s what the ONDCP has commissioned since the start of his reign:
- 127 anti-marijuana TV, radio and print ads
- 34 marijuana-focused press releases
- 50 studies from the ONDCP (and other govt. agencies) for anti-marijuana campaigns
All in all, this is another lesson in the manipulation of statistics. Just like the issue on marijuana busts and street pricing, the government is taking faulty data and using it to improperly shore up their anti-drug arguments.
Fight back by learning the facts.
[image via WWNYTV.net]
