Failed drug ads.

President Bush's anti-drug ads might actually increase the likelihood that kids will use drugs. Maria Czyzewska and Harvey Ginsberg, researchers at Texas State University, found that the ads had a worrisome "boomerang effect" on a sample of 53 college students, three out of four who reported more favorable impression of drugs after watching the commercials than before.

Why the skewed results? The researchers believe that students see the ads as exaggerated and nonfactual, thereby creating distrust of the source and its message. Apparently, many federal bureaucrats don't remember their teenage years very well. Teenagers hate nothing more than condescending messages from a powerful source that questions their own intelligence or worldliness. If you present kids with freak accident picture of drugs-- like the stoner who accidentally shoots his friend-- it will seem ridiculous and unrealistic to them. Under the circumstances, how can we be glad about the $170 million spent by the federal government on anti-drug ads this year?