Pubdate: Mon, 24 Jul 2000
Source: Eastern Door, The (CN QU)
Copyright: 2000 The Eastern Door
Contact:  http://www.easterndoor.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2464
Author: Kenneth Deer

DRUG USE STILL A THREAT TO OUR YOUTH

Recently, one of our young people right here in Kahnawake overdosed on some 
drugs and ended up in the hospital. His bad trip may last the rest of his life.

As a community, haven't we learned anything yet? What has to happen before 
people realize that illegal drugs injure, maim and kill?

As much as we try to educate our youth on the dangers of drug abuse, it 
never seems to sink in. There is no reason for anyone to die. The peer 
pressure on our young people to experiment and use drugs is enormous. It 
puts every young person at risk, no mater how hard many parents are working 
to bring up their children the right way.

There is no good reason for anyone to use drugs. Yet it keeps on happening. 
As adults in our community, where have we failed? What have we not done to 
stop the spiraling use of drugs in our community? As the adults and leaders 
of Kahnawake, we are afraid of taking action. Are we too lazy? Or too 
stupid or what?

Like drinking alcohol, drug use has become the social thing to do. Let's 
face it, the perception is that the adults are role modeling the behaviour 
for our youth whether we indulge ourselves or condone the behaviour.

Are our adults so taken in by drugs that they are no longer morally strong 
enough to stand up and fight against it?

This is a scary thought. But it may be partially true. How many adults 
smoke pot in front of their kids? How many adults feel that what they do in 
their own home is none of anyone's business? How many young people know 
exactly what the adults are doing just as we knew what our parents and 
adults were doing when we were teens? When our society is overrun by 
illicit drugs, then it is everyone's business.

How about those that say a little pot never hurt anybody? Experimenting 
with pot leads to experimenting with other drugs. Very few hard drug users 
went straight to hard drugs without starting with pot. A little pot can 
hurt in the long run. The facts have been reported over and over.

Drug use of all kinds are at a dangerous level in this community. It is at 
a dangerous level when drug overdoses no longer rile up the people to take 
action. It is treated like just an unfortunate incident; bad luck or not 
any of our business. Let the Peacekeepers handle it or the social services.

It should be very clear to anyone that, with all due respect to these 
agencies, they cannot do the job alone. Institutions get caught up in 
bureaucracy, rules and regulations that limit their effectiveness.

We, the collective people of Kahnawake, the parents, aunts, uncles, grand 
parents and the leaders, have to change our attitude towards solving the 
drug and alcohol abuse in our community. It has to be a community effort. 
Like coming together during the Ice Storm or cleaning our streets on Earth 
Day, we can make a difference when we want to.

It takes a common effort to defeat a common enemy. We all have a common 
problem in our community and we have to come together to defeat that enemy. 
To admit defeat, that the drug problem is too big to solve, is to surrender 
to the further decaying of our society and the eventual demise of our next 
generation.

What are we leaving that next generation? By our inaction, we are saying 
drug and alcohol abuse is OK because we didn't do anything about it when we 
saw it coming. Today we are witnesses to two and three generations of drug 
users. It sets the pattern for the next generation to also be users. Where 
will it end? We all have a responsibility to each other and to our youth. 
It is time to take immediate and extraordinary steps to prevent the 
increased use of alcohol and drugs in our community and prevent any further 
injuries or deaths.