From an early age most children are told that drugs are bad, we're scared into thinking that a simple puff of marijuana or a shot of scotch will make you crazy and put your entire future in jeopardy. Yet when it comes to video games we're getting what seems to be the exact opposite information. When it comes to video games drugs and alcohol are used as medicine, yet our politicians and news media seem oblivious.

Although this mixed message has been rattling around the back of my head for quite some time, it wasn't until I played through Gun that I really started to openly question what games are teaching us. In Neversoft's western you play Colton White, a man with secrets and a yearning for revenge. He's a one-man army that can take down almost anybody that stands in his way. But sometimes he's a little low on health; sometimes he needs something that is going to make him feel better and ready to kick more ass. So what is Colton's medicine of choice? Apparently it's a flask of alcohol.

In the later levels you're met with quite a bit of resistance, from Indians, rabid animals, your enemy's henchmen and random bandits on the trail. All these people coming after you means that you're going to take a lot of damage, which means you're going to be drinking from that flask more than you probably should. But Colton doesn't get drunk, he keeps his composure and doesn't stumble around at all. So what's the deal? Is this Colton's own brew of near beer?

But Colton isn't alone, nearly every installment of Resident Evil features their protagonist searching high and low for a certain green herb, something I can only imagine they roll up into a joint or use a Coke can to smoke. Now don't get me wrong, if I was stuck in a mansion full of brain-eating zombies I would probably want to light a doobie, too. But how exactly does this marijuana work as medicine, especially the type inflicted by the walking dead? Last time I checked pot didn't help mend your broken leg, open cuts and flesh set on fire. It might help you forget about that stuff for awhile, but it's not about to heal that spike that went through your arm. I'm pretty sure you're going to need a medic for that one.

But what message does this send to our youth? These are impressionable minds playing the M-Rated Resident Evil and Gun; kids that need to know how to "just say no." What are they going to think when their favorite video game characters - Colton White and Jill, the master of unlocking - have to get drunk and stoned in order to cope with the events around them?

Of course, this controversy is nothing new. Back when the Nintendo Entertainment System debuted it featured perhaps the first big video game stoner ... Super Mario. Mario (and Luigi, who was simply mimicking everything his big bro did) was among the first to use illegal narcotics as a power up. One of the big lessons we learned was that it sucks to be small, which is why you want to eat that magic mushroom to increase in size. Got hit by a flying turtle (no doubt caused from that shroom you just ingested)? Don't worry; you can just eat another mushroom to get back to your large size. Grab a flower and all of a sudden you can throw fire ... FROM YOUR HANDS!! But without the magic mushroom there is no fire, which proves yet again that you need to be high if you're going to get ahead in life.

Of course, there are good examples of getting better by taking the right kind of drugs; this debate isn't nearly as one-sided as I make it sound. Rockstar Games' stealth/horror game, Manhunt, had you using painkillers to deal with the pain you were in after being beaten down by a sadistic man in a smiley-face mask holding a baseball bat. James Earl Cash (Manhunt's lead "actor") could opt for street narcotics, but he's a stand-up citizen who says "no" to drugs and "yes" to prescription painkillers. This is the stuff his doctor is prescribing so we know it's perfectly safe no matter how many you take.

Unfortunately other Rockstar Games aren't as willing to stay on the legal and ethical side of this debate. 2005's The Warriors features not one, not two, but eight different gang members shooting up something called Flash. Not THE Flash, but rather, the drug being sold on the street that is nothing more than a pale imitation of heroin. Despite originally being created for medical reasons, heroin is not a drug that people should be using to increase their health. It's wrong, it's illegal, and it's sending the wrong kind of message to the kids playing this M-Rated game.

So where are you on this topic Jack Thompson? You talk about how the violence of Doom is turning us into mindless killing machines and how the intercourse in Grand Theft Auto is going to make us want to have sex all the time, but you're silent when it comes to the pro-drug message being paraded by games like Super Mario Bros., Resident Evil, and Gun. Are you going to wait for some stupid kid to get his fingers cut off and then try to heal it by getting totally shit faced? This is your chance, it's time to get Hilary Clinton and Nancy Reagan together to trumpet your message that no matter what kind of injury you have, drinking isn't the answer ... especially if you're about to face a whole gang of unwashed jerks with shotguns.