In the last fun-filled issue of You Idiot we examined the phenomenon of anti-drug video games such as Narc and Wally Bear and the No Gang to determine their effectiveness in eradicating narcotic use. After exhaustive research on this matter, we reached the startling, sobering conclusion that they did not, in fact, make a dent in the War on Drugs: people in America continued to get high even after they were released.

But perhaps this was to be expected; after all, video-gamers comprise a relatively minute demographic in this country. Could it be that simply not enough junkies and joint puffers had been exposed to sobriety-encouraging efforts such as Wally Bear? Sadly, we will never know the answer as these games have drifted off into obscurity.

Television, however, is something that practically every American is exposed to on at least a semi-regular basis. And rather than disappear as with the video-gaming efforts, anti-drug messages on the boob tube have exploded in recent months. The budget allocated for these spots is massive, dwarfing the average private company's advertising campaign. Odds are, they will be viewed at least a

few times by the typical television viewer, including drooling potheads who never got a chance to get their hands on the game Raid 2020 and its heartening "Winners Fight Drugs" rallying cry.

Getting the message from the White House planning rooms to inside the scrambled, resin-soaked brains of slouchy stoners will not be a problem this time around. But will these messages be effective? Is it time to begin planning for the War On Drugs victory parade quite yet? Or will the ads be met with a collective stoned stare from the nation's youth as the video games (and pretty much every other effort) were? Let us take a look to find out.

A Quick History
Anti-drug propaganda in the American media has been around for years, dating back to the Reefer Madness type movies from the 1930's (where pot smokers became axe-wielding lunatics after taking a puff of the Devil Harvest and so on), but the current crop of televised spots didn't become prominent until the mid 1980's when first lady Nancy Reagan unleashed her Just Say No campaign.

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