Why our children do not listen to us about drugs - part 1

I will not start with the obvious reason our children do not trust our guidance and wisdom when it comes to the use of drugs -the pervasiveness of alcohol through the very core of our society. Alcohol is a legal killer, hard to defend but socially and legally accepted. I'll save the discussion on alcohol for a later time.

How can we tell our children to not use drugs when we are a nation of drug makers, pushers, and users. As I look around the country I see a nation fixated by and with drugs. In a report published by the government called America's Drug Abuse Profile it states that more than a third of all Americans have used or tried an illicit drug. It goes on to say the use of illicit drugs among eighth graders is up 150 percent over the past five years. The University of Michigan’s 1996 Monitoring the Future study found that more than half of all high school students use illicit drugs by the time they graduate. Drug-related illness, death, and crime cost the nation approximately $66.9 billion. Eighty-two percent of all people who try cigarettes do so by age eighteen. Approximately 4.5 million American children under eighteen now smoke, and every day another three thousand adolescents become regular smokers. But this is only part of the story. The real drug pushers are the supply chain and distribution networks designed to get a large, steady, and profitable supply of drugs into the market as quickly and efficiently as possible. I am not talking about the narco-terrorist or the drug king pins from Columbia and Mexico I am talking about the legitimate purveyors of drug - drug manufacturers and its supply chain. When you consider the land sales, construction cost of pharmacies, the nation-wide trucking network, and the proliferation of doctor offices churning out prescriptions to the tune of 1 billion per year the value of this drug network is in the trillons of dollars.

106,000 deaths are from prescription drugs, according to Death by Medicine. That also is a conservative number. Some experts estimate it should be more like 200,000 because of under reported cases of adverse drug reactions.


According to The US Dept of Health and Human Services March 7, 2003 Prevention alert: Students in big cities are "pharming" these days- "pharming" being new lexicon for grabbing "a handful" of prescription drugs and ingesting some or all of them. Young people steal grandma's pills and distribute them at school. Senior citizens falsify their prescriptions for more pain medication. Babysitters take pills from cabinets. An Ohio real estate agent loses her license for pilfering pills from bathrooms at "Open Houses."

The appeal is obvious-the drugs can be legally obtained, the stigma of going to a street pusher can be avoided, and the price isn't steep. There are an estimated 800,000 web sites which sell prescription drugs on the Internet and will ship them to households no questions asked. Today, about one-third of all U.S. drug abuse is prescription drug abuse.

While most illicit drug abuse, particularly for middle and high school teens, began to slow or actually decline in 2002 after a half a decade increase, abuse of prescription drugs continues to climb:

Over the past decade-and-a-half, the number of teen and young adult (ages 12 to 25) new abusers of prescription painkillers such as oxycodone (OxyContin) or hydrocodone (Vicodin) has grown five-fold (from 400,000 in the mid-eighties to 2 million in 2000).

New misusers of tranquilizers such as diazepam (Valium) or alprazolam (Xanax, called "zanies" by youth)-medicine normally used to treat anxiety or tension-went up nearly 50 percent in one year (700,000 in 1999 to 1 million in 2000).

More than 17 percent of adults over 60, wittingly or not, abuse prescription drugs.
In 2000, more than 19 million prescriptions for ADHD drugs were filled, a 72 percent increase since 1995. An estimated 3 to 5 percent of school-age children have ADHD. A study of students in Wisconsin and Minnesota showed 34 percent of ADHD youth age 11 to 18 report being approached to sell or trade their medicines, such as Ritalin.

Among 12- to 17-year-olds, girls are more likely than boys to use psycho therapeutic drugs non medically.

See full report http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/govpubs/prevalert/v6/4.aspx

These statistics are old by today's standard. I hate to imagine how bad it is today versus how it was in 2003. The abuse of prescription drugs is alarming but yet we focus on pot!

If we are a drug nation or a nation of drug users how can we sound credible to our children telling them to say no to drugs? Every third ad on TV is a drug ad telling you or someone you know to take a purple, yellow, white or pink pill for any ailment, mental anguish or anxiety, or funny feeling in the legs syndrome that may or may not have. You will get a quick fix because you deserve it. Don't forget to ask your doctor for our drugs and you can try them for free. What a business with a legal and some would argue safe delivery system of doling out billions of dollars for billions of pills flooding our homes every day and we wonder why our children do not listen to our message about drugs.

Every corner in America has a drug store. A retail drug outlet open 24 hours a day able to provide you with an endless supply of drugs in child proof containers churned out by some of the richest and biggest companies in the world. They spend every waking moment thinking of new ailments so they can design new drugs that they can freely flow them down the vast distribution network that they have created. And our government provides them tax breaks to develop these new drugs that puts most people in a stupor and really has no likelihood of curing them. I do not say that there are a not lot of great drugs that do great things for improving people's lives. What I am saying is that masquerading along side these legitimate drugs are the posers that do nothing more than inflate company profits and import drugs into our society and don our throats.

Exercise and diet can cure most of the today's health problems. We have a serious problem America and its your neighbor, your uncle, your wife or someone close to you that is abusing a legal substance on a daily basis.

some things never change

When my father wanted to fix something he would take his right foot and give it a swift kick. That was the good ole days where everything had mechancial components to make it work not like today where you have more computer inside a washing machine than NASA had in the 60's. A swift kick just doesn't seem to work anymore.

I recently purchased a brand new high definition 65 inch wide screen TV. What a fantastic picture and I even purchased a new entertainment cabinet just to hold it. After less than 3 months it stopped working. It refused to turn on. I thought about what my Dad would have done and of course he would of given it a swift kick but I couldn't not on this super high def 1080i/p with integrated digital tuning. So I read the manual and proceeded down the troubleshooting path. After some amateur diagnosis I determine there was a bulb that had possibly gone bad. Fortunately for me the unit was under warranty. I called the 800 number and after a few minutes of waiting I spoke to a service representative and proceeded to inform him of the details of the problem. Before I could say send me a new bulb for the TV he asked me to go to the back of the TV and open a small door that contained a small cage housing the bad bulb. He said many times the mercury sticks in the bulb and it needs a little kick to move it along. I didn't know mercury could stick but I did what he asked me to do and he patiently walked through the process of removing the bulb. After I removed it he asked me to bang it lightly with my hand on the cage a few times and then re-install the bulb and the door. After I finished banging the bulb and replacing it I proceeded to turn on the TV and lo and behold the TV magically worked.

I guess some things never change. My Dad would be proud to know that a swift kick still works.

contrary to popular belief

From the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) - Among African-American, Hispanic, and White 12th-graders, Whites have the highest rates of past year illicit drug abuse.

repressive regimes squash the web

see julie's comment but to paraphrase she wonders how foreigners can help when they can not even help themselves. Even worse she says is the government having control over the media so getting the message out is dificult and dangerous. We do have the power of the internet which in its pure state is free, open and of course world-wide. I have seen how the Castro regime controls the web in Cuba and now we have chavez in Venezuela trying to control the web. If any of these cycberhackers, info-terrorist, datastrippers, or whatever theyyou call yourselves have real balls they would open up cyberspce in China, cuba, Venezuela, and any other repressive regime trying to quash the free flow of information. We need info-patriots as a new breed of fighter opening up virtual borders in countries that base thier power on lies, greed, and repression.

Not wanting to stray from answering Julie, however I can not resist to acknowledge the flag bearers leading the way to help these regimes achieve censorship. Talk about an aximoron. The companies dedicated to bringing light speed switched information to your finger tips on a moments request - Cisco, Google, Microsoft all helping China and others suppress the very thing that has made their stock soar - the free flow of information be it data, video, music, picture.

Well, julie if any of these cyber hunters decide to hep in Venezuela maybe you can get the story out of the country so the world can witness the destruction of democracy by a power hungry, angry man. Will the rest of the world just sit back and let it happen? Probably.

In a global world we have global stickiness. The impact of one decision in one culture simultaneously has a different impact on another culture instantly.

Drugs and America

Is it any wonder why children, by the time they are teenagers, do not trust what parents and society has taught them over the years? This includes matters on religion, relationships, sex and of course drugs. We teach by lying. We teach by contradiction. And we teach by ignoring the reality of the situations we face largely due to the denial our societal mental state is currently engaged in. America is on a war on drugs (war on terrorism, war on immigration, blah, blah, blah) fought on many different battlefronts over the course of many years with the same dismal failures over and over. The "war" is mis-guided and mis-managed. It has gotten so bad that recently former federal attorney and republican conservative congressman, Bob Barr, has taken over the fight for the National Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) as its lobbyist representing the organization to change laws effecting the sale and distribution of marijuana. Why has he done this? Maybe because the current policy is flawed ( nice word for stupid).

Of course I believe we should legalize marijuana for many reason I will highlight the resaon later on this blog. These observations and conclusions I arrived at after many years of seeing a far reaching government use drug laws to manipulate our behaviour. I am no expert merely a human observer caught in the process.

Over the last 80 years the government and the established morality organizations have fought the onslaught of drugs by imposing various tactics into our society. In the early years fear was used as the primary weapon of choice to combat the use of drugs. Movies, such as "Reefeer Maddness" (1930s) were used to scare the beejesus out of users smoking. Their kids would be abnormal, their brains would be fried and you would lose your mind! As we fast forward to today we realize it is the food supply that is doing this to us today being provided by the same people supposedly protecting us. I am not a conspiracy theorist but....

When fear did not abate the import and use of drugs the tactic switched to brute force enforcement and confiscation of personal property protected by the Constitution. Jails to this day are being filled with pot smokers and allowing hardened criminals to go free due to overcrowding. Drug bail can be much higher than those for murder. Where are our priorities? We continue to use these tactics when they should be fighting terrorism and resources are constrained. This again has done little to combat drugs and use continues to rise.

The next move was the ethical right. Somehow in our society drug use became a moral and ethical issue. Somehow against the will of God, herself! All the pulpits across America could now preach about the immorality of drugs. I am sure it can be argued God would prefer a believer live and worship with pure mind and body. But come on, does anyone do this? We slaughter our bodies with foods made wholly from chemicals, we slaughter our environment with gases and waste, and our humanity through war and power mongering. In America you can lose your children if you have a joint in the house but a raging drunk will be put in bed to sleep it off. You are allowed at a church picnic with a fine bottle of wine with no questions asked but substitute a joint in its place and you are hauled off to jail and now considered somehow more evil than with the bottle of wine, a far more dangerous drug. People that drink do not believe they are doing drugs. Yet alcohol is a very dangerous drug with known outcomes. It is the same as parents that send their children to public school do not believe they are using a welfare program from the government.

So we have fear, aggression, and morality as tools against drugs and yet none of them are working. Why? Why do we spend billions with Mexico and Columbia to fight the war on drugs when we hardly make a dent? why do we send thousands of our youth to prison? Why do we budget resources for drug fighting when they are limited and precious and instead should be used for fighting terrorism? I believe that our officers in local and border enforcement are great individuals, true heroes doing a difficult and dangerous job. It is our politicians that have failed us in this so called war. Why isn't it working? Why is demand being measured in percentages rather then actual numbers? Why are our children mistrustful of us? More to come later.....

Watch out for Chavez

As America fights terrorism and spreads democracy does anybody wonder why we are letting democracy fade in our own backyard. As anti-immigrant sentiment in America grows we increasingly ignore our neighbors to the south of our borders. We are in the middle east toppling Hussein in Irag, in Afghanistan toppling the Taliban, but in Venezuela we are seeing the rise of a dictator before our very eyes. Many Americans, ignorant of affairs south of the border, do not know the constitution in Venezuela will be changing in December to allow Hugo Chavez presidency for life. Democratic forces in Venezuela are protesting and fleeing the country with no support from us. How can we not support a country fighting for democratic ideals in our own backyard and let them slip into a leftist regime that will surely suppress its people and economy? Does the richness that oil has brought this country responsible for creating and egging on their boldness to deny freedoms to its citizens?

Are we as major procurers of their oil responsible for their backtracking of democratic freedoms? Are we providing them the profits to move their regime forward? Are we part of the problem with our locust-like consumption.

The Chavez regime is in the process of stripping land and holdings away from its people. The poeple of Venezuela have no choice but to flee the country and leave all that they worked for behind. In many instances Venezuelans are holding wrecking parties. These are get togethers with friends and family desinged to wreck and demolish thier homes and other properties to prevent Chavez from siezing a working piece of property. Chavez ends up with rubble and the owners end up with some satisfaction.

America needs to wake up are we will be fighting far worse and far closer in our next struggle to maintain the democracies we are used to having.

Why aren't rich oil countires paying us for the war in Iraq?

A question I always wondered as we engaged in the Iraqi war is why aren't the rich oil countries we are protecting (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc) paying for the cost of the war. We, as Americans, are paying for all the cost with money, time, and the blood of our soldiers, that includes our kids, parents, and in some cases our grandparents. The cost of oil rises as our soldiers die. Give them the tab.

We want to spread democracy but at the same time the oil countries are not democratic and in many instances spit in the face of democratic principles. They do not allow elections. women rights, religious freedom, free press and other democratic principles but yet they are our friends. How can that be? Why are we not requiring them to pay for the war, set up security in the region, and using their oil to run our equipment in Iraq? But no! Are there interest in the US that want the oil at over $100 per barrel? Are the profiteers of the war machine really interested in stopping terrorism? Is simple supply and demand really what is driving the price of oil?

immigration

Immigration what a hot topic - so hot our politicans won't touch it , can't solve it, and will not get elected if they support it. This topic is so hot that 80% of Americans are against it. You have to ask yoursleve why are so many against it and why won't our politicians speak about. It also appears to me no one wants to speak the truth about the subject. I want to hear your comments about your views on immigration and why. Yes, why do you ahve this view? How do you support your view? Obviously red necks, racists, one world advocates, english only advocates and anyone else taht wants to comment I would like to hear your explanation on your immigration thoughts.



Can you imagine giving them drivers license? Some can and some can't? What about giving a path to citizenship? Are the borders allowing terrorists in? Does anyone really understand this issue or just to merely say they are illegal is enough to end the debate? This Jose Crow mentality is what we want driving America? Remember that drinking out of a fountain or riding in the front of the bus was illegal and made any one a criminal that did this if they were of color. Does this make sense to anyone? Is this really about border and immigration security or just about not wanting any more Mexicans in? Does anyone realize we have 4 borders but only want to speak about one?

This is the first time I have ever written to or posted information on the web concerning any of my thoughts and comments. After over 50 years of living on this planet I thought I could shed light on events happening around us, to us and with or without us. We are in the middle of war, upcoming elections, debating immigration, global warming, stem cell research, and the list goes on. Many of these debates are setting policy with our government that will influence the way we behave and how we pursue our right to happinees. The debates many times are ugly, rude, and hateful but worst of all there is little validation and verification of the information being used to sway one camp or another. How can we as Americans decide, vote and implement policy and law when the information we use to make these decisions may be flawed? How we keep our policitians accountable is by making them prove what they say is supported by fact not merely twistred data that they easily manipulate to state their position.

These debates have divided our country. Not just liberal and conservation but way worst. Dividing by ideaology, racial lines ( now we have added Hispanic to the black and white struggle), economic lines,and along religious custom and belief. Where are we headed? Where will we end up? With the power of the web we longer have to rely on the traditional sources of information from biased news organizations, inlcuding FOX, devious politicians, and a government beauracry so strong and powerful that whomever is the next president may not matter.