As shoppers and theatre-goers thread their way through the crowds in Times Square this holiday season, some may be tempted to stop off at a temporary museum devoted to the ways, means and history of the illegal drugs trade.
Created by the US Drug Enforcement Administration and housed in a former Warner Bros. toy store, the exhibition offers little cover for the ideas it wants to push.
'Target America: Drug Traffickers, Terrorists and You' may offer lots of useful information, but a lot of the impact gets lost in the crude propaganda that seeks to tie every terrorist enemy of America to the drugs trade.
Directly alongside pictures of drug users shooting up in New York are copies of newspaper front pages from September 11 with headlines such as 'Freedom itself was attacked this morning', as well as a picture of President George W. Bush at a memorial service for those who died in the attacks.
There is also a display of rubble, twisted shards of metal and personal effects, including a soft toy, from the site of the destroyed World Trade Centre. Tapes play broadcasts from the moments when the towers collapsed, all within metres of reconstructed cocaine- and heroin-processing laboratories.
On another floor, a mock-up of a bedroom is shown with vials of crack depicted next to a gun and a baby's bottle on a bedside table. A dirty nappy is on the floor, and the sound of a baby can be heard wailing on the background tape. Yes, the creators of this museum spare no effort in their attempts to tug on the emotions.
