Anti-Drug Pencil Fail

Watch out what your belongings are telling you to do. As fourth grader Kodi Mosier of Ticonderoga Elementary in New York discovered, sharpening your pencil could elicit a much different message than the original.

The “Too Cool To Do Drugs” pencil at its various sharpening stages.

The Bureau for At-Risk Youth handed out these “Too Cool To Do Drugs” pencils as a promotional item in a national effort to educate children about addiction. After a bit of sharpening, however, these anti-drug pencils became drug-pushing pencils. Seeing the obvious mistake, the group issued a recall. The reissued pencils have the slogan written in the opposite direction. After sharpening, the final message reads, “Too Cool,” instead of “Do Drugs.”

Despite negative reactions to the “Do Drugs” pencils, many were sold as novelties for quite some time. If you would like to create your own clever message, you can create your own custom pencils here on Pencils.com.