Pubdate: Sun, 12 Sep 2004
Source: Gainesville Sun, The (FL)
Section: Speaking Out
Copyright: 2004 The Gainesville Sun
Contact:  http://www.sunone.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/163
Author: Kinloch Walpole
Note: The writer is director of the Gateless Zen Center of Gainesville, a 
group that works with prison inmates.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

THE WAR ON DRUGS IS BEING LOST IN OUR LIVING ROOMS

The war on drugs is being lost in the living rooms of our nation.

The consequence is a legacy we bequeath our children, which is the 
predisposition to adopt our addictive behaviors.

Whereas the mindless addict is a factor, the major threat is far more 
insidious and pervasive. This threat lives within "looking good" families 
who cloak empty lives with "responsible" drug use as a reward for their 
educational achievements and economic successes.

Children often twist this message. Addictive behaviors become the 
motivational force for obtaining both respect and success.

In 2002, 37.1 percent of Alachua County students reported at least one use 
of an illegal drug in their lifetimes, and 18.3 percent reported use in the 
prior 30 days.

The past-30-day usage rate corresponds to 10.8 percent among middle school 
students and 24.4 percent among high school students. Illegal drug use is 
higher in Alachua County than the state of Florida as a whole.

The Drug Court and places like The Corner Drug Store provide safety nets 
for kids whose drug-related activities might have come to the attention of 
the law. Over 400 Alachua county juveniles (children under 18) were treated 
for drug and alcohol addictions in 2003.

Notwithstanding, some students slip past this safety net into the jails and 
prisons of Florida. Overnight they are transformed from student to prison 
inmate. This transformation often began in living rooms where "responsible" 
drug or alcohol use was the norm.

I know these kids because they are among the inmates I visit in 11 Florida 
prisons and jails each month. They are trying to make sense of what is left 
of their shattered lives.

In the 30th year of the war on drugs, federal and state governments each 
spent close to $20 billion for drug suppression: meanwhile the public spent 
$64.8 billion on the purchase of illegal drugs.

What is there to show for thirty years of war? On the demand side, there 
are 14.8 million citizens using illegal drugs. On the supply side, illegal 
drugs have become more potent, more available and less expensive.

The logic that supports both the concept of the war and its strategy is 
somewhat akin to scenes from the movie "Clockwork Orange." The losers can 
be found in both the prisons and addiction centers of the nation.

On June 30, 2003, 14,689 of 77,313 inmates in the Florida Department of 
Corrections were doing time for drug crimes. At the same time there were 
1,194 men and women in prison for alcohol-related crimes.

Alachua Criminal Court had 1,553 filings for drug crimes in the 
2002/2003-court year. There were 966 DUI filings for the same period. In 
2001, the State of Florida had 31,021 admissions to publicly funded 
treatment facilities for illegal drug use and 35,813 for alcohol.

If we narrow the scope to Alachua County, we find over 4,550 substance 
abuse clients served in the year 2003.

Addictions negatively affect both individuals and society. At the 
individual level many people suffer. Lives are destroyed. And until we deal 
with the problem in the living room, we will all continue to feel its 
impact in the economic and political arenas.

Politics are not a part of the addictive process unless we make it so. 
There are medical, behavioral and spiritual elements that contribute to 
addictions.

The addictive process is like stepping on a seesaw. You can walk backward 
and forward on the board till you reach the tipping point and then an 
out-of-control slide starts. Each person has their own tipping point and no 
one knows what it is till the board tips.

A parent can pass on an addiction by setting a behavioral precedent. This 
is akin to giving the child a helping hand on to the board of an addictive 
seesaw.

In 2001, more than 6 million children in the U.S. lived with at least one 
parent who abused or was dependent on alcohol or an illicit drug during the 
prior year.

In 2000, almost 7 million persons age 12 to 20 were binge drinkers. That is 
about one in five persons under the legal drinking age.

Focusing on the legality or illegality of any substance only distracts us 
from the underlying problem. Any substance is harmless when left alone. Our 
job is to face what motivates a child to drink or do drugs in the first place?

To do that we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and we may just find 
we don't like what we see.

And that, in turn, may very well be why we are setting the precedent in the 
living room with "responsible" drug and alcohol use. A use designed to 
erase the unwelcome image or fill empty lives.

Empty lives are lives that confuse having the means to live a good life 
with living a meaningful life.

The options are two. We can avoid our responsibility as part of the problem 
and maintain the status quo or be a part of the solution. Up to this point, 
we have been intellectualizing the problem to death, and in the end it will 
lead to the destruction of our children.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager