By Tony Bylsma CCDC*
“If only I had known then what I know now, I would never have taken
that first hit!” This is the common cry of
Drug addicted people
all
over the world. It matters little if the drug is
Heroin, crystal
Methamphetamine, hashish or
Crack Cocaine. The whole process that
eventually led to this person’s ruined life, their diminished
potential, ravaged body and blunted mental capacity could have been
avoided if the original act had never occurred.
We’ve been hearing for years that most kids will try drugs no matter
what the adults say. This is from a group that forwards a theory
called Harm Reduction. They hold that the best we can do is
teach young people to use drugs safely or responsibly. But how do
you take crack cocaine safely? What is the responsible way
to use heroin or crystal methamphetamine?
The “responsible use” of illegal drugs approach does not allow for the
fact that the first thing to go with drug use is the user’s judgment.
This is especially troubling in young people who are in the process of
developing social and decision making skills. Drug
Addiction itself is defined in part by the inability to use good
judgment
The time for good judgement is BEFORE THE DRUG USE STARTS. And in
view of the fact that many addicted persons began their experimentation
with drugs at age ten, eleven or twelve, this means we had better be in
their classrooms, on their television channels and in their faces with
the truth about drugs before that point.
Some of the same sources of ‘Harm Reduction’ theories advocate the
removal of legal penalties for possession of and eventually the total
decriminalization and even legalization of all drugs. They
argue that there is a “Forbidden Fruit” effect which tends to lead
potential addicts right to the drug; that therefore, all restrictions
should be removed and that drugs will just magically begin to go out of
style and become passe.
This is an obvious fallacy. The number one killer of all drugs is
tobacco. Addiction to
Nicotine takes hundreds of thousands of
lives each year in the U.S. alone, yet it is legal to possess or use
over the age of 18. Keeping it out of the hands of minors
is nearly impossible. The second biggest killer is
alcohol, also legal and without any forbidden fruit effects.
Addiction to alcohol and nicotine takes people right to their
graves. Drugs are not damaging because they are illegal,
they are illegal because they are damaging
It is irresponsible to give up on our youth and proclaim drug abuse an
inevitability with which we must learn to live.
We know that drug
Abstinence is the goal and we know that drug
abstinence training is effective. Opponents of drug
prevention efforts argue that past drug prevention has totally
failed. The truth is that drug preventative education does work
and users are in the minority. Surveys show that even
though drugs may be readily available to most students, the majority of
them don’t use.
We must support abstinence from drug use as a reasonable and achievable
goal for public health policy; and support a message of no use of
illegal drugs or misuse of legal drugs.
To quote from National Families in Action:
The single, most consistent finding in national drug-use surveys of
adolescents and young adults conducted by government agencies for
nearly three decades describes a correlation between belief in harm and
use. The more young people who believe a specific drug will hurt them,
the fewer young people use that drug. Unfortunately, the reverse is
also true. As belief in harm declines, use increases. Research
demonstrates that any drug prevention program or policy therefore must
be built on the foundation of scientifically accurate information about
the harmful effects of drugs and a clear no-use message.
Our drug prevention activities are helping. Now is not the
time to back off, now is the time to step up our efforts, to make the
kids even more aware and to alert them to the elements in society that
are there trying to promote the use of drugs. If they are
truly informed and know the damages that result from illegal drugs and
misuse of legal ones, we can reduce the numbers of drug users
dramatically.
There is only one sure way to avoid the damages and destruction of drug
abuse—to never start. That is what we must teach our
youth. That is real harm reduction.
Narconon. The Road OutToll Free: 888-9NO-DRUGS or 888-966-3784
* Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor