# U.S. Uploads Anti-Drug Videos To YouTube



## LdyLunatic (Sep 19, 2006)

Washington, DC -- The Bush administration is taking its fight against illegal drugs to YouTube, the trendy Internet video service that already features clips of wacky, drug-induced behavior and step-by-step instructions for growing marijuana plants.
The decision to distribute anti-drug, public service announcements and other videos over YouTube represents the first concerted effort by the U.S. government to influence customers of the popular service, which shows more than 100 million videos per day. 

The administration was expected to announce the decision formally on Tuesday. It said it was not paying any money to load its previously produced videos onto YouTube's service, so the program is effectively free.

"If just one teen sees this and decides illegal drug use is not the path for them, it will be a success," said Rafael Lemaitre, a spokesman for the drug office.

The government's YouTube videos include a previously televised, 30-second ad of a teenager running from a snarling dog and bemoaning pressure from his friends to smoke marijuana.

"Then today, they said I should try to out run Tic Tic, the lumber-yard dog," the teen says. "And I don't think I can. I'm an idiot."

YouTube, a San Mateo, Calif.-based startup, has become one of the Internet's hottest properties since two 20-something friends started the company 19 months ago. The free service allows users to share and view videos, most of which are amateurishly produced and include clips of young people singing and dancing - usually badly.

The government's short public service announcements - all of which were produced previously for television - are highly polished. They will compete for viewership against hundreds of existing, drug-related videos that include shaky footage of college-age kids smoking marijuana and girls dancing wildly after purportedly using cocaine. Other YouTube videos describe how to grow marijuana and how to cook with it.

"Welcome to the great experiment," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project. He predicted computer-savvy critics of U.S. drug policies will quickly edit the government's videos to produce parodies and distribute those on YouTube. "This seems pretty new and pretty adventurous."

The government linked its videos with the terms "war on drugs," "peer-pressure," "marijuana," "weed," "ONDCP" and "420," so anyone searching for those words on YouTube could find its anti-drug messages. All the videos were associated with a YouTube account named "ONDCPstaff" and identified as an 18-year-old living in Washington. The term 420 is a popular reference for marijuana.

Michael Bugeja, who studies how different groups use the Internet, said the White House plan is misdirected because online video services don't afford serious consideration to weighty topics.

"It's the wrong forum and the wrong target," said Bugeja, an author and director of the journalism school at Iowa State University.

On The Net: 

U.S. anti-drug videos: http://www.YouTube.com/ONDCP

Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Author: Ted Bridis, Associated Press 
Published: Monday, September 18, 2006


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## seattle420 (Sep 19, 2006)

I just unloaded a bunch of my letters to the editor on the you tube comments site, and sent them a ton of messages as well.

we are all in this drug war.
 wether we like it or not.
I would suggest that other letter writers send them some as well.


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## seattle420 (Sep 19, 2006)

we need someone with a video camera to make video responses to them. that way we'd waste even more of their time as they have of ours.


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## AeroTX (Sep 20, 2006)

That video of the fat dude driving saying his friends smoke and he doens't, but he still drives should be considered entrapment. They are basically influencing the audience to do the same, thus reducing the amount of smokers, but any pothead here knows that when you are busted, and you have a friend with you, they are busted with the same punishment... all this talk about how the media influences you, and they turn around and influence with inaccurate information. WOW!


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## seattle420 (Sep 20, 2006)

most of their videos have their comments section disabled
 but several of them are not
and they do accept comments sent to the ondcp check their profile site and send them your two bong hits.

I'd suggest being respectful, but say what ever comes to your mind about the ondcp

post articles about DEA corruption such as the dea budget anyalist whowas cuaght after he stole 9 million dollars from the dea
the largest theft of government funds ever by an individual
his name was dave bowman

or post about the ultimate outrage, JAMES HIET the dea crook who was busted for smuggling c-ocaine

the most glaring recent example of hipocrisy in the war on drugs is the case of Col.  James Hiet and his wife

http://cannabisnews.com/news/6/thread6843.shtml


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## seattle420 (Sep 20, 2006)

Campaigning in Seattle on Saturday, Bush answered questions about medical marijuana laws by saying, "I believe each state can choose that decision as they so choose."


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