I Want My ONDCP TV

The ever-solicitous Office of National Drug Control Policy has created a website aimed at "entertainment writers and feature journalists," which they say:

provides writers with the opportunity to email specific questions to a select list of drug experts. The site is designed to help writers quickly locate and research critical information on specific drugs.

I'm sure the list is quite "select." As you may recall, the ONDCP got in trouble about five years back for inserting anti-drug themes into popular TV shows. Since they've presumably stopped doing that, I guess this is their next-best try. One wonders: Why are they so concerned at controlling the drug information writers get access to? OK, one doesn't wonder that much. (Hat tip: Bill Piper at Drug Policy Alliance)

Comments

[CodeMonkeySteve]

Dear ONDCP:

I'm a (click click) writer researching (bubble bubble) the best way to (cough cough) remove resin from glass. It's for a new episode of-- ooh, are those Fritos? Sweet!

[joe]

Dear ONDCP,

Did you ever look at the enabling legislation creating the Drug Enforcement Agency? I mean, REALLY look at it?

[Chuck]

The entire list of experts is too long to post here, but just for a sample, here is their list of methamphetamine experts:

Beverly Jackson
Director of Public Affairs
National Institute on Drug Abuse
(Referrals to experts on all drugs)
[e-mail]

Richard A. Rawson, PhD.
Integrated Substance Abuse Program
University of California at Los Angeles
[e-mail]

Rogene Waite
Public Affairs Office
Drug Enforcement Administration
[e-mail]

Susan Webber Brown
District Attorney Investigator, Expert on Meth Labs and Child Endangerment
Butte Interagency Narcotics Task Force, Butte, California
[e-mail]

Not biased at all, I'd say.

I wonder if these are their real email addresses. You know, in the spirit of helping, they would probably really like it if LOTS of people just emailed them directly with ALL SORTS of questions about drugs and other topics. And those people would be sure to say that they got the email address from the ONDCP web site. That would be OK, right?

[Baylen]

There might be others, but the only name I recognize on the list of experts who is absolutely not working on the side of evil is Craig Reinarman from UC-Santa Cruz. Anti-drug pioneer Elvis Presley -- apparently still dead -- is not on the list despite offering the feds his help during the Nixon administration.

[parse]

According to the linked story, "the US government colluded with networks to insert anti-drug messages into television programs, including top-rated shows like. . .the Drew Carey Show. . ."

Not the libertarian poster-boy and Reason-darling Drew Carey! Say it ain't so, Drew.

[SteveInClearwater]

Carey was compromised by the DEA telling him they would forcibly intervene on his access to high sugar and high fat content foods which are of course, addictive.

Or at least I think I read that on the Internet.

[smacky]

Drew Carey has permanently besmirched Cleveland's image with his bad humor and fatness. And now, this. I really didn't need another reason to dislike him. I finally loathe him, without a doubt.

[Josh Cohen]

On my old site, I wrote about this in a piece called "The Dick Payoff". The short version: on the critically-acclaimed (but probably destined to end for good in May) show "Jack & Bobby", the mother was "addicted" to marijuana. She has since given it up, presumably because the writers have found other problems to give her.

However, each time she used marijuana, something bad happened to her -- her kids found out, or she messed something up. And then there'd be some sort of anti-drug message coming from Jack (the older son). In return, the WB was allowed to insert into the show characters calling each other a "dick". (ie: "You're being a dick." "I'm not being a dick, you're being a dick." et al)

It happened weekly without fail.

I thought that when the mother gave up marijuana it would end, but in an episode where a girl blew smoke directly into Jack's mouth during a kiss, we also had the word "prick" used as an insult.

I do wonder if there's some sort of arrangement between the ONDCP and the writers. I don't watch a lot of teen dramas ("The OC", et al) so I don't know if it's happening on other programs. And I should've kept track of the number of ONDCP spots that ran, but I didn't make the connection at the time. I just know that there was some sort of payoff or tradeoff for the anti-drug messages.

The URL:

http://www.d-42.com/archives/000817.html