FC: Libertarian Party runs newspaper ad slamming U.S. drug czar

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

The Libertarian Party contacted me last week and asked if I had a photo of 
U.S. "drug czar" John Walters. They wanted to license the image for a 
newspaper ad critical of the War on (Some) Drugs and -- imagine this! -- 
the White House refused to provide them with a publicity shot. I didn't 
have a photo of Walters, and the LP managed to find one elsewhere.

The ad runs tomorrow (Feb. 26) in USA Today and the Washington Times. It's 
pretty powerful:
http://www.lp.org/action/files/!drugwar.pdf

By way of background, the LP is responding to the saccharine-sweet ads that 
Walters' Office of National Drug Control Policy ran earlier this month in 
hundreds of newspapers:
http://www.mediacampaign.org/mg/print.html

One ad shows a young woman's face. The text reads: "Last week, I washed
my car, hung out with a few friends, and helped murder a family in
Colombia." The bottom of the ad says: "Drug money helps support terror. Buy 
drugs and you could be supporting it too."

The LP believes the ad ignores how the War on Drugs -- and the black 
markets it spawns -- drives up the price of illegal drugs by as much as 
17,000 percent. Naturally *their* ad features Walters' not-so-pretty mug 
and says: "This week, I had lunch with the President, testified before 
Congress, and helped funnel $40 million in illegal drug money to groups 
like the Taliban."

The LP asked me to forward Politech members a link to their online donation 
page for funding of other such ads. It's here:
http://www.lp.org/contribute?prog=drugwarad&fund=2002-0037

-Declan




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