Above The Influence

What is wrong with those commercials? They're on television fairly often now, aiming to discourage viewers from taking drugs. However, these advertisements bug me to no end because they make these rediculous scripts that seem like a joke, but you know it's not a joke because it's a serious commercial against drugs.

For example, in one commercial there is a girl lying on the couch. Sarah, the girl on the couch, is deflated on the sofa and is not able to speak to the interviewer in the ad. Sarah's friend speaks for her in the commercial:

"Friend: This is the way it's been since she started smoking pot. She's all lazy and boring and... You know we used to have so much fun together.

Interviewer: And now?

(Screen opens to a wide angle of both of the friends)

Friend: This is what we do." (Taken from abovetheinfluence.com)

The deflated girl is repulsive to look at. She looks at the camera with this disturbed look in her eye that implies that life is a hopeless effort. Is this a desirable message? That people who use drugs are not human beings, but mere inconvieniances we shouldn't have to deal with?

Plus, where does the friend get off saying "oh, she's all lazy and boring since she started pot"? Sure, she might be lazy and boring, but is she doing anything to help her friend? No, she's just sitting there talking about how lame and helpless her boring friend is. Maybe I'm wrong, but shouldn't these commercials encourage drug users to drop the dope while they can, instead of sending a message that says "if you're on drugs, you're hopeless and you shouldn't even bother to quit"?

These commercials only succeed in making a person uncomfortable. I don't need to watch a commercial just to debate if my reaction to this creepy, sick joke of a public service announcement is appropriate or not. I'll always welcome the older drug commercials where they have the blanks at the end followed by "my anti drug". Those commercials offered real solutions in those little blanks. Those commercials were more than just air time spent on saying "drugs suck".