Opinion of "Just Say No"

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Probably the worst First Lady campaign of all time and a disaster in every sense. It had zero understanding of even the root causes of drug use (most teens who experiment with drugs don't do so because some "cool" kid at school offered it to them for free and they were bullied into taking it to say the least) and in a rather condescending and ugly subtext was mostly pitched to the kids of middle class white families instead of targeting the crack epidemic amongst blacks in the inner cities. By all accounts it actually increased drug use.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I remember an ad in the 90s, when this nonsense was being phased out, where basically two kids are at a party, one kid offers the other a joint, and it shows the thoughts of that kid growing through his head where he fears bullying and ostracization if he refuses. But he still says "uh, no thanks", the other kid says "cool man" and things continue as normal. While this is a FAR more realistic portrayal of how drug use actually work amongst teens, it also manages to make the stoner kid look like a nice and reasonable person instead of the strawman monster most just say no ads did, which kind of kills the basis of this type of marketing which is why it was never done that way.

I suppose if the ad's message is seen as "It's OK to be friends with other people who use marijuana, but that doesn't mean you have to do it as well", then it's not a terrible or unreasonable message...but it also goes completely against the message of Just Say No.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

FC

[dead0man]

HC

Just silly really.  Did anybody over the age of 11 ever take it seriously? Telling an addict to just say no is like telling someone who is depressed to just cheer up (stolen from Steven Tyler).

[Virginiá]

HC

Just silly really.  Did anybody over the age of 11 ever take it seriously? Telling an addict to just say no is like telling someone who is depressed to just cheer up (stolen from Steven Tyler).

Exactly.

I'm sure she had good intentions, but it was a terrible idea to invest actual hope in and the whole "tough-on-crime" / drug war nonsense has absolutely devastated parts of this country. The whole idea just reeks of a generation of people whose views/ideas on drug addiction are not rooted in reality.

[dead0man]

And, as always, most of these mofos pushing crap like that do drugs too, they just do socially acceptable ones.

[Mr. Smith]

Well-intentioned, but very counter-intuitive.

[RightBehind]

Great in theory, not great in reality. Decriminalize and legalize all drugs to take away the violence and to say no to the cartels.

[Angel of Death]

[Blue3]

It's silly... but well-intentioned and harmless.

Much better than, say, toughening the laws, violating student privacy, or more. It could have been a lot worse.

[Ebowed]

It's silly... but well-intentioned and harmless.

A simplistic and prohibitionist approach to drug use is decidedly the opposite of harmless...

[Blue3]

It's silly... but well-intentioned and harmless.

A simplistic and prohibitionist approach to drug use is decidedly the opposite of harmless...

There already was a prohibition.

[TDAS04]

Definite HC.

[Taco Truck 🚚]

It's silly... but well-intentioned and harmless.

Much better than, say, toughening the laws, violating student privacy, or more. It could have been a lot worse.

Agreed.  Not sure what people are comparing it to.  Every other facet of the antidrug campaign was infinitely worse than t-shirts with a simple slogan on them.

I remember an ad in the 90s, when this nonsense was being phased out, where basically two kids are at a party, one kid offers the other a joint, and it shows the thoughts of that kid growing through his head where he fears bullying and ostracization if he refuses. But he still says "uh, no thanks", the other kid says "cool man" and things continue as normal. While this is a FAR more realistic portrayal of how drug use actually work amongst teens...

Cool.  Glad you are the final arbiter of every teen-teen drug interaction in the United States.  I have been forcefully offered drugs on numerous occasions.  Just saying no was my strategy and it worked.  The campaign, like you, may have been being naive and assumed that it covered 90+% of scenarios.  Even if it only covered 20% or 10% of scenarios it did some good with no harm that I can think of.

Really it is time to lay off harmless well meaning first ladies.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

It's better than using actual violence on drug users like Bush and Obama did 20 years later.

[dead0man]

It's better than using actual violence on drug users like Bush and Obama did 20 years later.

You say that as if Reagan, Bush Sr and Clinton didn't use violence on drug users.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

It's better than using actual violence on drug users like Bush and Obama did 20 years later.

You say that as if Reagan, Bush Sr and Clinton didn't use violence on drug users.

Those Mexican Drug Cartels weren't around back then.

And what about Nixon, Ford, and Carter?

[Figueira]

Good personal advice, but overall bad strategy.

[dead0man]

It's better than using actual violence on drug users like Bush and Obama did 20 years later.

You say that as if Reagan, Bush Sr and Clinton didn't use violence on drug users.

Those Mexican Drug Cartels weren't around back then.

Indeed, they killed a lot more S.Americans back then.

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They killed less, but are still guilty.

[SWE]

Hardly "well-intentioned"