Reality aside, as it always is with prohibitionists, the Spiderman allusion is too obvious.  No originality here, which pretty much summarizes prohibition. 

‘Rise above it’ is a hierarchal phrase.  It implies class distinctions and even racial overtones.  In the drug war, class distinctions are reinforced by employing an alleged health problem which is portrayed as a criminal intent to be punished accordingly.  The disjointed injustice betrays its sadomoralist intent.

The thing prohibitionists miss in their class warfare assertions is that their opponents generally think of them as occupying the bottom rung of the social evolutionary ladder.  So the video’s appeal to risk taking behavior is misplaced.  Drug taking behavior is averse to risk if it’s done right.  Prohibitionism works to ensure it’s done wrong because prohibition is an eliminationist strategy designed to destroy, not protect.

Giordano

Parkous and free-running involve an awful lot of physical fitness, concentration and dedication to the sport - so I guess they're trying to say you're not capable of those things if you use drugs.  Similar to the use of Olympic stars a generation ago to make much the same point.

Remember kids: Only Users Lose Drugs!  Or something like that.

Ok, you know nothing about Parkour.

1.) The idea is to be CAREFUL.. that's like a main pillar.

2.) Even when you're careful, things do happen.  But still, I know no one who has gotten seriously hurt doing Parkour (I know people with 6 years of training..)

3.) But even then, the odd injury happens to you about as frequently as the regular person (at least the one who doesn't sit inside playing games and accumulating fat all day..) because most Parkour is not done on roofs, it's done on the ground, with rails, and curbs.  People who start on roofs, yeah they will risk injury.  People who go to roofs after 10 years of training risk it a lot less.  Even then, rooftops are overrated.. there's usually not that much to do up there anyways.

4.) I would argue that the risks of a normal, active lifestyle, are well worth the effort, because (only my achievements here) but I started Pk with no muscle on my body (and very antisocial), and two years later, I have an 8 pack, a much more active social life, and a long jump which is very close to the world record.

5.) BTW, I don't do drugs.

Hello miss informed Scott Morgan I strongly suggest you that research a little more about parkour. Try get in touch with a community of traceurs or at least research a little more about what parkour really means. It's a really nice discipline but you need to give it a chance.

I'm not here to give shit to parkour. It is very cool and if people want to do it with the proper training and safety precautions (unlike the idiots in the parkour accidents video) then that's their business.

However this anti drug ad is definitely retarded.

Let's face the facts here. If you compare:

1. Taking most of the illegal drugs responsibly, with
2. Doing parkour responsibly,

It's undeniable that 9 times out of 10, the parkour is more dangerous.

There are drugs for which deaths are nearly unheard of (MDMA), or even drugs for which there is ZERO recorded deaths (cannabis, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms). In addition, taking some of the more dangerous drugs (heroin, cocaine, alcohol, methamphetamine) can still be safer than parkour. Probably the only drug that is more dangerous than parkour is tobacco which eventually kills around 60% of the people who smoke it. Some drugs, like alcohol, cocaine or methamphetamine make people more likely to get injured, I would like to see if there is any info on whether parkour or those drugs cause more injuries to people.

However just because parkour is dangerous doesn't mean I think it should be illegal - that would solve nothing and be stupid because parkour doesn't hurt anyone else. Instead we need to educate people on how to safely perform parkour. With drugs, we need to make them legal and regulate them, and educate people on how to use drugs safely.

Flaming hell. THIS is why they recommended it: Increased confidence, self esteem, reduced youth crime, reduced destructive behaviors. The video is a short documentary about where Parkour was taught to youth in Westminster, and led to all those things listed above. It was also taught to at-risk girls for women's empowerment day or something, and resulted in massive boosts in self-confidence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvP_HfVa2Rs

Parkour is a discipline, just like a martial art, with all the mental and physical perks it includes, except instead of being based around combat, it is based around self-expression, freedom, and the mentality of overcoming obstacles rather than being held down by them. It is also 100% free and non-addictive. It mainly becomes dangerous when drugs and alcohol are introduced which slow reactions, alter judgement and perceptions, and lead to taking bigger risks than is safe. Or when pretenders mimic it with no training. Think of the thousands of hospitalisations/lives lost because of drugs from overdoses, suicides, bad reactions, and turning to crime; and then compare against the less than 5 deaths from Parkour. Clear to me which one is safer.

Jumper, your comparison of the small number of deaths from Parkour to deaths related to drugs doesn't work. First, how many people do Parkour, vs. how many people use illegal drugs? A lot more do the latter -- that's one reason there are fewer deaths from Parkour. Also, most drug users, younger and older, use marijuana, which does not cause overdoses, turning to crime, etc. -- safe for the overwhelmingly majority of users of it. Not that there can't be problems, but that's the same with anything.

Can Parkour be done safely? Maybe. Is it a positive experience for young people? I imagine that in many cases it probably is. But as you pointed out, it's a discipline like martial arts that requires training in order to reduce the risks -- like any other sport -- no, more than most sports. And the drug czar's office has no reason to expect that kids seeing this video will make a point of finding a competent Parkour trainer, that their parents will feel good about it and be willing and able to pay for that training, that the kids will follow the trainer's advice on what not to do, etc.

And so there are a host of issues that are raised by the government being involved in promoting this practice, beneficial though it may be for some people -- promoting it in this particular way seems particularly ill thought through. And it's not safer, whatever else it may be.

Hm... isn't this just another effort by the govt to be as hypocritical as possible? Use the CIA and military to bring tons of drugs into the country, then arrest users.  Now they are encouraging and teaching kids how to outrun the cops.

And anyone who goes flying through the air and pounding on roofs needs to perform community service to repair all the damage they cause, cracked ceilings, leaky roofs, and even the incredibly stinky job of re-roofing.

And as far as it not being "addicting" that's absurd. Of course some people get addicted to it, they start out small, but work up to bigger and bigger feats that "make them feel more alive" and cause ever greater amounts of adrenaline to surge into their system. In fact, and research will bear this out, participants get most of their jollies from the reactions of others. Therefore they take bigger and bigger risks just to make others wince, or cheer, depending on if they are trying to impress their friends or "get back" at authority figures.

But the worst actors are the Drug Warriors and Prohibitionists who elevate themselves above everyone and act on their sick desires to control and manipulate everyone; as they rob the world to do so.

So plain and simple im going to state this. parkour is NOT jumping from roof tops. if you look at the parkour community at all, the community focuses on honing your body and mind as one. increasing physical strength and mental strength so that one can achieve more. literally the only people you see actually jumping from roof tops are people who "THINK" They know what parkour is, or people who have the skill to do it without getting hurt and do it for money, like Stunt men. which is what you see in this advertisement is not a representation of what the majority of practitioners do. so dont even try saying anything about it not being safe until youve either done it, or seen what the majority of people are doing. because parkour is the one athletic activity that has harmed me the least. ive hurt myself more playing football(American) and football, and track and field, and cross country, boxing, baseball among other things. plain and simple the first thing i was taught was safety, literally how to absorb impact from a fall, how to prevent landing on your head safely how to redirect momentum. literally ive begun to understand much of physics and how the world works from doing parkour, i understand how my body moves, how objects around me react to different forces and pressures, how different textures might be different even in the slightest ways. parkour is not only completely safe, but it is also a learning tool, a tool to understand life. if you ask most practitioners of parkour, they will tell you. it HAS changed their life, and it IS for the better. there is no past tense there, it absolutely is impacting my life in ways nothing else could. and i know others will agree. So, if anything, this is an explanation for you on parkour.

So plain and simple im going to state this. parkour is NOT jumping from roof tops. if you look at the parkour community at all, the community focuses on honing your body and mind as one. increasing physical strength and mental strength so that one can achieve more. literally the only people you see actually jumping from roof tops are people who "THINK" They know what parkour is, or people who have the skill to do it without getting hurt and do it for money, like Stunt men. which is what you see in this advertisement is not a representation of what the majority of practitioners do. so dont even try saying anything about it not being safe until youve either done it, or seen what the majority of people are doing. because parkour is the one athletic activity that has harmed me the least. ive hurt myself more playing football(American) and football, and track and field, and cross country, boxing, baseball among other things. plain and simple the first thing i was taught was safety, literally how to absorb impact from a fall, how to prevent landing on your head safely how to redirect momentum. literally ive begun to understand much of physics and how the world works from doing parkour, i understand how my body moves, how objects around me react to different forces and pressures, how different textures might be different even in the slightest ways. parkour is not only completely safe, but it is also a learning tool, a tool to understand life. if you ask most practitioners of parkour, they will tell you. it HAS changed their life, and it IS for the better. there is no past tense there, it absolutely is impacting my life in ways nothing else could. and i know others will agree. So, if anything, this is an explanation for you on parkour.

Stop all the fighting. If you believe in our Constitution and the Bill of Rights and what they say . Then doing "DRUGS" should be legal.Just cause you don't believe in doing "DRUGS" others might. Thats our freedom as Americans to choose yes r no. This should not even be topic. Look if you commit a crime then punish that person for that crime. Crime are committed by people who are not on "DRUGS" and who are on "DRUGS". Why should we put our brothers and sisters in little cages ,lock them down ,tase them (when we do this to cattle we call it inhuman). We do this to one another but don't allow it done to a cow. People stop and think about this we can teach our child right from wrong, not to drink or to drink every now and then.but don't drive while your drinking. Why can't the same be done with "DRUGS". TEACH,teach teach !! Stop thrown around money we don't have and treat one another better then we treat cows. AND TEACH TEACH cause we can learn a lot r a little from everything we do right r wrong...FREEDOM is a beautiful thing.

In all honesty, forget about drugs and using parkour/freerunning as a way past it. The ad seems to be using parkour as a metaphor to "rise above the influence" by having the actor jump high into the air. The person who created the ad clearly had little knowledge of what parkour really is and only used the flashier portion of it to catch the viewer's attention. Research parkour a bit and perhaps look into people like David Belle. Many people who take the art of displacement seriously train very often and drill themselves on movements and ways to safely bail. I know that for younger children seeing someone do something amazing they'll want to also give it a go but for their age they will not realize all the work and effort put behind it and will probably hurt themselves. I seriously recommend looking into parkour/freerunning and the meaning and philosophy behind it. It's a lot more than just jumping around but self improvement like karate. Look into something I've known other freerunners to take interest in called tricking. Just go to YouTube and look it up. In a way it all ties together like with break dancing and you'll see how nothing here is really distant from the norm. The main concern here I believe is that people are fearful that by seeing dangerous examples of parkour kids will want to do it and they will badly hurt themselves. It's just like anything else, I know when I was a child and I'd see ninjas and martial artists on tv and I went that's so cool I wanna do that. If anything, really just look into it and educate yourself. You don't exactly need classes for the basics just some grass and low objects. Using tutorials off of YouTube was how I started without a gym in sight. Practicing the discipline of parkour has helped me get past some seriously bad depression and gain a lot of confidence. It's not for everyone but just look into what it really is before you judge it. A 33 second commercial with the primary goal being to stop the use of drugs is not a very reliable source.

People can we please stop arguing were not accomplishing anything. I do Parkour i've trained for 2 years i've never been injured and up until i started i was very depressed i thought frequently about drugs and suicide then i started training and all that stopped.And through Parkour i came to trust CHRIST with my cares and worries.  Parkour by "definition" is an art form in which people use their bodies and their environments to express themselves.  So with that out of the way i personally think this commercial misrepresents what Parkour is, and rather shows what Parkour isn't. Please have a firm understanding of Parkour before you judge everyone who does it. GOD bless and train safe peace. :)

Parkour is very safe when a person is actually trained for it, just like any sport, it requires dedicated training and practice. Most accident happen when people who do not train, say they are doing parkour but are actually just idiots. The point of the commercial appears to be saying is either spend your time rotting away with drugs, or go out and learn something new. Parkour takes dedication, many consider it more of a life style than a sport, but if you are live the life of a Tracuer then you spend your time improving yourself rather than degrading yourself with drugs. Honestly this article, though just opinion, seems like it was written with out much thought on the matter (or research).

Well I'll just give insight from my point of view for the simple fact that I've been on both sides of this.  I'm 22 years old and for 6 years I was a drug addict.  It started with marijuana, but that was only just the beginning of my down fall.  I eventually fell into cocaine, crack cocaine, and methamphetamine.  Spent several years in a downward spiral putting my drug addiction as the highest priority in life.

I finally reached that point at the very bottom where I knew it was life or death for me, and I decided life.  After spending a year fighting my addictions I finally was clean.  But I knew very little about who I actually was after being just an empty shell for so long in life. I had no trust in myself and didn't know how to occupy all my down time out side of working.... Then I saw it...parkour and freerunning.  And I thought it was completely amazing the things people did and I thought I could do it.

I got in contact with some people in my surrounding area that practiced/trained parkour and met up with them and I haven't stopped moving.... because with parkour, there isn't a boundary on life any more.  It's given me the confidence in myself to over come any obstacle..because that's just what parkour is...it's a training method which focuses on rational movement in both the natural and urban environments. The focus is to move around obstacles with speed and efficiency.  Parkour itself is just natural movement..your own way in life.. not succumbing to life's "social norms"  Whether it's just hiking through the woods or moving through an urban environment..that's all parkour is..

Now when you start adding the flashy flips, I will say that's when there's an increase of danger in free running.  But if you speak with most dedicated freerunners, they drill the technique and form to perfection in some type of controlled environment, like a gymnastic gym. Because safety and knowledge is the foundation that's taught by all serious traceurs..

So I agree with most everyone's post in some aspect or another.  This is a great metaphor in "rising above the influence" and shows one's freedom from being chained down by drugs...but this does not properly show the true value and meaning of what parkour is to those who truly are traceurs..because we're not reckless...we assess the situation in front of us..calculate all the risks involve in whatever we might be attempting..and if it's beyond our skill level or comfort...we train..pushing ourselves further in life so we can come back to that obstacle and conquer it..

Hopefully this might be helpful...seeing how I've been on both sides of the ball court.

I sympathise with those defenders of parkour in the comments above. I would suggest that the parkour depicted in the ad is the sports equivalent of heroin given the lengths of the jumps, the height above the ground, and the distance of even the intended drops. If you get this parkour wrong you don't just lose a couple of teeth. You die!

An ad depicting a guy jumping over a park bench in a cool way with girls and guys looking on impressed might have been appropriate. The young man depicted appears to be performing extremely dangerous feats of agility alone, with no social aspect to his recreation, almost like he has a self-destructive desire to push the boundaries of what is possible for him in order to achieve some sort of addictive personal adrenaline rush.

This is parkour heroin. It is completely inappropriate.