Partnership For A
Marijuana-Free America Supports the Alcohol Lobby
In Opposition to Giving The Czar Authority to Run Anti-Alcohol Ads.
Czar Plays It Both Ways. -- 2 Articles
See
"Drug
Czar To Be Asked To Tackle Alcohol, Too?"
The Alcohol Industry Had Better Wake UpMay 27, 1999
From The Washington Post
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
By Bill McAllister
(Marijuananews note: I had been debating whether to run anything
more on the mounting controversy about including alcohol in the Drug Czar's propaganda
campaign, but now that the Partnership has shown its hand, or whatever it is showing, it
is worthwhile. Indeed, this is just too perfect.
- The Partnership’s ads are overwhelmingly dedicated to anti-marijuana prohibitionist
propaganda.
See
When The
Partnership For A Marijuana-Free America Speaks,
The Media For A Marijuana-Free America Parrots.
Widely Reported Press Release About Kids and "Drugs" Mentions Marijuana 29
Times, Alcohol 0!
The Partnership was founded by the former CEO of Johnson and Johnson.
See
Deadly Drug
Sold by Founder of Partnership for A Drug-Free America, Says Forbes
Now it opposes running anti-alcohol ads as a part of its mandate to warn children about
the dangers of drugs.
See
High Anxieties -- What the
WHO Doesn't Want You To Know About Cannabis -- New Scientist Special Report
From the Washington Post perspective this is a story about an
"Inside-the-Beltway" thing, lobbying over the fine print in a bill.
"Sometimes it’s those little issues that can spark the most spirited
lobbying."
Notice that there is no reference to any anti-prohibitionist groups in the article. The
only debate is among prohibitionists.
The Post does not give its readers any comparison of the impact
of alcohol, compared to other drugs. However, the LA Times article that follows gives the
reader an idea as to why alcohol should be included, but, as the numerous links indicate,
this is just a hint at the real magnitude of the problem.)
SPECIAL INTEREST: FIGHTING SPIRITS
Sometimes it’s those little issues that can spark the most
spirited lobbying.
Just ask Reps. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) and Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.). After they
heard Clinton drug czar Barry R. McCaffrey bemoaning his lack of authority to include
warnings about alcohol abuse in his office’s anti-drug ads, they agreed to help.
No sooner had they offered legislation that would give him the authority for such ads
than the liquor lobby descended. "Your support for this
amendment would make the drug czar’s position untenable and reduce his ability to
wage the war on drugs," David K. Rehr, senior vice president of the National Beer Wholesalers Association, told Roybal-Allard in a
memo.
See
"In one year, the beer
industry spends three times more on TV advertising
than McCaffrey has to spend on all media.
and
Brewers Of Budweiser
Hair-Test Employees To Be Sure
That They Are Not Using Any Drugs Less Dangerous Than The One They Make.
An aide to former representative Vin Weber (R-Minn.), Rehr has led the fight against the
legislation, arguing that McCaffrey’s "limited" funds should be devoted to
entirely to anti-drug ads. "This is being led by people who are
attempting to tie beer as close as they can to drugs," he said. "It ain’t
all the same."
Wolf countered that studies by McCaffrey’s office show that alcohol is a
"gateway drug" that often is a first step toward illicit drugs.
See
"Those who
insist on keeping the plant illegal bear a serious degree of moral responsibility for
young marijuana users who do go on to use cocaine, heroin, PCP or other genuinely
dangerous or addictive drugs."
Alan Bock, of the Orange County Register On the Real Gateway
"I’m not anti-beer," said the Northern Virginia lawmaker, who admits
surprise at the fierce opposition his amendment has drawn. A
coalition of health groups, including the American Medical Association and the Center for
Science in the Public Interest, is backing the Roybal-Allard-Wolf amendment.
It is opposed by the Wine Institute and the Distilled Spirits Council,
but Rehr’s biggest—and most surprising—allies are the Partnership
for a Drug-Free America, a private group that supports the czar’s
programs, and McCaffrey’s own office, which circulated a paper on Capitol Hill
warning of the high costs of launching an anti-alcohol campaign.
McCaffrey spokesman Bob Weiner said McCaffrey now supports the amendment, provided it
gives him permissive authority for such ads and does not mandate them.
(Marijuananews note: McCaffrey knows how to play the game. He will agree to take
authority, but not responsibility. That way he looks like he is in favor of anti-alcohol
ads and by the time that it is clear that he will run very few of them, he will be off to
join Constantine on the lecture circuit. After all, he is dependent on the agencies that
sell legal drugs to come up with the anti-marijuana propaganda.)
Rehr said he was taken aback by the czar’s change and promised to fight the
legislation if it clears the House Appropriations Committee next month. "It’s
the wrong language on the wrong bill at the wrong time," he said.
Copyright: 1999 The Washington Post Company
INDUSTRY OPPOSES PUSH FOR ANTI-ALCOHOL AD CAMPAIGN
May 13, 1999
From The Los Angeles Times
letters@latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/
http://www.latimes.com/HOME/DISCUSS/
By Sonia Nazario, Times Urban Affairs Reporter
(Marijuananews note: It is perfectly natural for the alcohol
industry to oppose the expansion of government power over them, but it is immoral and
stupid that they support marijuana prohibition. They had better wake up and smell the
napalm. It is getting closer.)
Health: L.A. lawmaker seeks to expand anti-drug blitz out of concern for Mexican
Americans. Sellers’ group decries attack on ‘legal product.’
The alcohol industry has launched a vigorous counteroffensive to a move afoot in
Congress to include anti-alcohol messages as part of the federal government’s five
year, $1 billion youth anti-drug advertising blitz. Efforts to include more ads against
underage drinking began when Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Los Angeles), concerned about
high rates of problem drinking among Mexican American men, questioned why alcohol messages
are not part of the government’s paid media efforts to combat substance abuse.
See
Television Ads For
Alcohol Seem To Convince Kids To Drink;
So Should We Run More Ads Against Marijuana?
Today, the congresswoman is expected to introduce an amendment in a House
Appropriations subcommittee to require that messages against excessive
underage drinking be part of the campaign. David Rehr, senior vice president of the
National Beer Wholesalers Assn., lobbied subcommittee members Wednesday to vote against
the expected amendment. "Everyone wants to get rid of underage
drinking," but the alcohol industry is best suited to formulate and distribute
that message, Rehr said. "Tax dollars shouldn’t be used to put out of business a
legal product."
(Marijuananews note: Opposing underage drinking would put the alcohol industry out of
business? On the other hand, it is perfectly okay to use tax dollars to urge the arrest of
medical marijuana patients?)
See
Never Mind
What HHS Says Now About Medical Marijuana, Here Is What The DEA Says.
And No One Could Reasonably Be Expected To Trust A Government That Lies Like This.
Launched with fanfare last year, the Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign has provided a
steady drumbeat of ads aimed at adolescents and their parents that propound the dangers of
illegal drug use. It is part of a government effort to reduce youth drug use 20% by 2002.
Currently, officials said, an estimated 95% of teens see or hear seven such messages each
week. Yet none of the paid ads deal with alcohol abuse, a problem
that studies show afflicts four times as many Americans as drug abuse. At a March
25 hearing, Roybal Allard, head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, asked why alcohol
isn’t being tackled in the campaign.
See
Alcohol
Still Top Irish Drug Problem – Ten Times as Many Hospitalizations as All Illicit
Drugs Combined
Citing two recent articles in The Times, she noted the
disproportionate toll of heavy alcohol use and abuse on Mexican American men and
quizzed the White House antidrug czar, Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, about what his White House
Office of National Drug Control Policy is doing to tackle the issue. "The
problem," Roybal Allard told McCaffrey, "has grown to epidemic proportions and
is threatening many of our Mexican American communities, such as those in my congressional
district."
Heavy problem drinking, according to a 1998 federal study, is one-third higher among
Mexican American men than among any other ethnic subgroup surveyed. McCaffrey’s
office says it hasn’t included anti-alcohol messages because it lacks the legal
authority to do so.
The agency added that media outlets paid to put out the ads must air an equivalent
amount of free public service announcements about substance abuse, of which 15% are about
alcohol or drunken driving. Advocates for making alcohol a bigger part of the campaign say
alcohol abuse is as great a menace to youths as abuse of other drugs. McCaffrey himself
has said that "the most dangerous drug in America today is still alcohol" and
cited its role in 100,000 deaths and $150 billion in socioeconomic and medical costs each
year.
Copyright: 1999 Los Angeles Times.
See
McCaffrey Says Rather Than Focus On Individual Drugs, The Drug Culture Should Be
Targeted.
"The problem isn’t the kind of drug; it’s drug-crazed, stoned
behavior." And It Gets Weirder...
and
MCCAFFREY
ON TEEN DRUG INITIATIVE / CNN Transcript:
"The most dangerous drug in America is a 12-year-old smoking pot..."
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