What I would like to do on this blog is to publish articles and news about the need for drug education and some of the things that happen both because of it and because of the lack of it.
This will not be a blog of “all about drugs” as there are plenty of those already. The interest here is in life stories of people and their experiences and news on researched drug effects.
For example I read a couple of days ago of a mother in the UK who lost her 21 year old daughter to a supposedly “safe” party drug whose life and future could well have been saved if she had been properly educated in what drugs are and what they really do. Full story http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8114618.stm
Can you possibly imagine her distress and loss? Twenty one years of raising your own daugher through all that entails to lose her in an instant to the lies and “stories” of peers and drug pushers. Let’s have some “fun”, “won’t do you any harm”, “you’ll feel great”, and all the rest of that rubbish from people with already sad lives trying to suck others into the same sorry and worse state. Now her mother is on a crusade to try to get the laws changed which is great but of course too late in her case.
Whilst this is admirable it is a lost cause in my opinion. Laws are a total waste of time they have done nothing to stop the spread of drug use, it is a failed solution. The only solution that has the slightest hope of stemming the tide of drug damage is to reach people with common sense education effective enough so that they have a personal clear understanding so strong that they can hold to their viewpoint up against the PR campaigns of the pushers.
A famous person once said, “A person with no certainty can be lied to”. This is so true if you think about it. When you know something from the viewpoint of understanding not just adamant unreasoning self-rightousness but with rational certainty no one can shake your position. You will hold to it never mind the arguments thrown at you to think or do otherwise because you truely understand.
I believe we can make this difference with an education approach. In fact I think we don’t really have any other choice. Laws will never stop people from doing what they want . All throughout history laws have failed to change people’s behaviour. They just push the behaviour underground and out of sight. Only self-determined change has any long lasting strength. You only get this from becoming enlightened in some way or another.
Education is one of the most successful ways. All scientific progress is really education. We found out what worked and demonstrated it to others and they were able to do the same things too. People who didn’t learn fell behind and sank into a mire of their own stupidity. Like still believing the world was flat or the Sun went around the Earth or that blood flowed like a tide.
It’s the same with drugs. If you don’t know what they do and why you get into them you will never be in control of yourself or the drug/s. Worse, if you have false ideas about them and no other knowledge to work with you will never discover what is true data and what is false.
To see all comments or leave a reply click on comments up at the top next to G’Day
Really nice posts. I will be checking back here regularly.
Effective Drug Education is the only effective weapon to fight the war on drugs. Drug addicts are being “made” at a faster rate than they can be rehabilitated. Therefore, prevention is the only real answer!
Hi there I have added the blog site to my list of favourites to make it faster to check in every day to see what is happening. I am waiting to hear from other grandparents, dont leave this to the young we the oldies have a great contribuation to make so let the senior voice be heard, we have the time, energy and the knowledge of life to share so lets start sharing, thanks for setting up this blog site . T
Wow this promises to be a great site, a place to share experiences both good and bad. I am a grandmother of 6 beautiful children ranging from 16 down to 8 years of age. I will be looking forward with great interest to any articles that I can pass on to them
Great Idea having a blog on drug education. Welcome to the battle. The Narconon network has been doing a lot in this arena, and getting some remarkable results for quite a number of years now. There is a study out that delineates the incredible effects and results that are being obtained with Narconon Drug Education. The full study can be viewed at: http://www.substanceabusepolicy.com/content/3/1/8
I’m glad to see a new drug education / prevention blob that focuses on real people not just more facts. Prevention education needs to communicate real life stories of drug-free success and drug failures, like Michael Jackson or River Phoenix.
T