Pubdate: Tue, 11 Oct 2005
Source: Brown Daily Herald, The (Brown, RI Edu)
Copyright: 2005 The Brown Daily Herald
Contact:  http://www.browndailyherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/727
Author: Jesse Adams
Note: Jesse Adams '07 is the music editor of post- and media co-chair of SSDP.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?219 (Students for Sensible Drug Policy)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

AGAINST THE TIDE OF DARE'S MISINFORMATION

I heard it for the first time in first grade and then again every 
single year from the fourth grade to the end of high school: "Drugs 
are bad. Drugs are addictive and destroy your life. Drugs will kill you."

Considering that this message came from my kindly neighborhood police 
officer, the guidance counselor with the never-ending supply of 
Tootsie Roll Pops and eventually my high school's endearingly 
dim-witted football coach, I was at first inclined to believe their 
obviously well-intentioned warnings. But over time, just like 
thousands of kids who have endured the DARE program, my peers and I 
became jaded and cynical.

As much as William Bennett and the Moral Majority would like to blame 
the "immoral" and "subversive" media such as Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" 
or the Macintosh shareware classic "Happy-weed" for tempting 
corruptible children, the truth is that everyone I knew growing up 
spent far more time playing the video game "NARC," a violent 
shoot-'em-up in which Drug Enforcement Administration agents 
mercilessly slaughter evil drug dealers and addicts with a formidable 
array of high-tech weaponry. For kids who grew up watching idols like 
Kurt Cobain self-destruct, drugs were hardly exciting or glamorous.

No, what turned the kids I knew against DARE was the blatant 
inconsistency of the (mis)information it provided. Depending on what 
pamphlet you read, one "marijuana cigarette" caused the equivalent 
lung damage of three normal cigarettes or an entire pack. Psychedelic 
mushrooms killed either 500 or 5,000 people per year. Cocaine caused 
instant heart attacks in one out of a hundred users or one out of a 
thousand. And for all the talk of marijuana as the direct gateway to 
amotivation, failure and eventual hellfire, many of our parents had 
indulged in the past without destroying their lives or careers. For 
most kids, I think, it seemed ridiculous to respect warnings from an 
organization with such a clear lack of respect for its audience's intelligence.

Such misinformation, by this point, isn't really any one person's 
fault. Over the last century, virtually all government information 
about drugs has been manipulated by some agenda. At first, much of it 
was racially motivated, as opium was associated with Chinese and 
marijuana with blacks and Hispanics. In later years, the deception 
continued as increasingly powerful drug czars sought to consolidate 
their influence and secure ever-greater funding for their agencies. 
Now, staying "tough" on drugs using tactics including misinformation 
is an easy way for politicians to gain political capital.

What we have now is a vacuum of readily available truthful 
information about drugs, at least for those who don't want to conduct 
their own extensive research online. In the absence of education that 
could encourage safety, I have witnessed some truly dangerous 
drug-related activity: smokers wrecking their constitutions by 
single-handedly burning through ounces of marijuana in a matter of 
weeks; students snorting Adderall so that they can do their homework 
after an evening of using downers; even people assaulting their 
livers by washing down prescription painkillers with copious amounts 
of alcohol. Since prohibition is clearly impossible, harm reduction 
should be the goal. It is clear that students need an objective, 
trustworthy and confidential source for factual information about 
drugs and drug safety.

Last year, the Drug Resource Center opened as a joint project between 
Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the Department of Health 
Education. Its mission is to provide unbiased and truthful 
information about drug use, including the dangers thereof. The DRC's 
volunteers are trained to direct visitors to the best sources of 
information so as to reduce harm. A more informed student body will 
be a safer one.

I encourage all students to visit the DRC, regardless of their 
personal stance regarding drugs - knowledge is power, and power is safety.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman