Pubdate: Thu, 08 Aug 2002
Source: Shawnee News-Star (OK)
Copyright: 2002 The Shawnee News-Star
Contact:  http://www.onlineshawnee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/412
Author: Bobby Antosh
Note: Bobby Antosh is a senior at Shawnee High School

TELLING THE TRUTH BEST DETERRENT FOR DRUGS

Ever since I started school, I knew that the worst thing that could 
possibly be done by a person must be to do drugs.

This conclusion was simple after I saw that the school's efforts to combat 
drug abuse took precedence over anything and everything. Counselors 
repeatedly interrupted class to warn of the dangers of smoking pot or how 
cocaine can ruin your life. A policeman came regularly to show us how 
efficiently he and his trained dog could detect us if we had drugs. We had 
D.A.R.E., we had Red Ribbon Week, we had Life Guides, we had contests.

In a time when the school wouldn't admit that there was an absolute right 
or wrong, there was one exception. Drugs were the ultimate evil. It got to 
the point where it wasn't teaching anymore; it was indoctrination.

Assemblies were never so you could hear the facts and decide how you felt 
about drugs. You were told all of that. I was taught to hate drugs before I 
knew why I should.

The message was never, "Think about the consequences before you use drugs." 
It has always been, "Don't use drugs. Why? Because we say so."

No one ever calmly explained drugs and then left it alone. The issue was 
hammered in again and again as if we were too dumb to get the message the 
first five times. We learned insipid slogans, we wore ribbons, we made posters.

Not only did it become insulting to your intelligence, but drug lecturers 
began to get as much attention as flight attendants issuing airplane safety 
instructions. When was the last time that any group of people listened 
intently to the same message over and over?

As it wore on, it was easy to see that this war on drugs was doomed. I 
watched TV. I knew that teenagers were expected to become rebellious and to 
disrespect the taboos of past generations merely for shock value. I just 
wondered why no one else seemed to know it.

One of the most effective things ever accomplished by the school system was 
to give drugs more shock value than anything else known to man. It did come 
across that everyone wasn't doing drugs, but this made it the ideal opening 
for individuality and rebellion against the norm. What's more, teens found 
out that their brains didn't fry like an egg the first time they used pot. 
Adolescents saw that although they never used drugs, that didn't 
automatically make them smart, or rich, or popular as the drug-free 
lifestyle had been portrayed.

I thought back to a poster contest in the fifth grade that was won by a 
portrayal of a man as he won the race in his gleaming convertible while 
cash poured from the back seat -- all because he stayed drug-free.

It became hard to distinguish if everything that was said about drugs was 
as much a lie as some of it had shown to be, especially as it came from the 
generation that brought us hippies, the pioneers of counter-culture.

It's the drug industry, the ones who are supposedly lying to you, who seem 
to have the real truth.

It's the drug dealers who have the cars, the money and the women.

The drug addicts are the group that will accept you no matter what your 
standing in society.

Drugs get you high. That's all that was ever promised, and they deliver. 
Now, I've never used drugs nor do I ever intend to. I think people should 
learn about drugs. But that's it. No promises for the future, no threats, 
no prizes.

I know there are a lot of well-meaning teachers and administrators who have 
nothing but the best of intentions when they institute anti-drug programs.

But when anyone over-inflates the dangers of drugs or even the merits of 
staying off them, it's a lie. Kids aren't stupid, but they are stubborn. 
They know the risks and they know the illegality. You can preach forever, 
but there will always be those who ignore the consequences and choose the 
cheap high.

This is America, where you can be bent on destruction if you choose to be. 
All that can be done is to tell the truth and leave it alone.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager