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Thank you Spider Robinson
May. 9th, 2007 12:52 pmand thank you boingboing - in all the talk of copyright law, this story has been going around in my head for the last couple of years, but I couldn't remmebr the author or title.
May. 9th, 2007
Several readers, commenting on a boingboing link about meth pop-rocks point out that the implication that drug dealers are mixing the two to sell to children may be illogical:
There's no evidence meth is flavored to appeal to children, and there's no masking the taste.
On the contrary, there's an established tradition of drug dealers coloring and styling their wares, as a brief look at http://www.ecstasydata.org/ will make evident. The purpose of this is to create a reputation for a certain "brand" of drug, allowing a dealer to promote his product over the other guys.
and
And the bigger question, why really would a meth dealer want to sell to school children? Wouldn't there be a much greater chance of a child getting caught and instantly telling where he got it from? Or worst yet, how much more likely is it for an 80 pound child to die from an overdose on meth? The whole thing just doesn't add up in that context.
So really, while this article is fascinating and true for the most part, to instantly jump to the conclusion that its "to get children hooked" seems more like the over sensationalized drama thats come out of the drug war.
The latter comment in particular agrees with most of the doubts that crop up in my mind whenever a PSA shows a stereotypical drug dealer shouting "hey kids, get your crack here!" What interests me, though, is this probably explains the "cookie monster" drugs (probably LSD tabs (?) that my mom heard about on the news when I was six or seven, and which convinced her to worry for the next decade or so that armies of people were out to tempt, corrupt and kidnap me. The story probably originated in a similar case of "branding" by some Toronto drug kingpin, followed up by "OMG they're after our kids" sensationalistic reporting by the local news. Gee, thanks for ruining my childhood, people.
There's no evidence meth is flavored to appeal to children, and there's no masking the taste.
On the contrary, there's an established tradition of drug dealers coloring and styling their wares, as a brief look at http://www.ecstasydata.org/ will make evident. The purpose of this is to create a reputation for a certain "brand" of drug, allowing a dealer to promote his product over the other guys.
and
And the bigger question, why really would a meth dealer want to sell to school children? Wouldn't there be a much greater chance of a child getting caught and instantly telling where he got it from? Or worst yet, how much more likely is it for an 80 pound child to die from an overdose on meth? The whole thing just doesn't add up in that context.
So really, while this article is fascinating and true for the most part, to instantly jump to the conclusion that its "to get children hooked" seems more like the over sensationalized drama thats come out of the drug war.
The latter comment in particular agrees with most of the doubts that crop up in my mind whenever a PSA shows a stereotypical drug dealer shouting "hey kids, get your crack here!" What interests me, though, is this probably explains the "cookie monster" drugs (probably LSD tabs (?) that my mom heard about on the news when I was six or seven, and which convinced her to worry for the next decade or so that armies of people were out to tempt, corrupt and kidnap me. The story probably originated in a similar case of "branding" by some Toronto drug kingpin, followed up by "OMG they're after our kids" sensationalistic reporting by the local news. Gee, thanks for ruining my childhood, people.