Truth in advertising...Drug Use Warnings

[mr-pirk]

I watched an interview with Bill O'Rielly and Robert Shapiro. O'Rielly was talking to Mr.Shapiro about Brent Shapiro's recent death due to using the drug Ecstasy.

Brent Shapiro was a graduate from the University of Southern California. He was on the Dean's List for several semesters. He had been Sober and drug free for a year and a half.
It apperars clear that he was an educated and I assume reasonably smart man.

One thing Robert Shapiro kept repeating is that," People, especialy young people, just don't believe you when you tell them drugs are so dangerous" (not verbatem).

I have a brother, a year older then me, Lee.
Lee was one of the brightest minds I have ever known. I say was because now he can barely keep a thought together. He is currently a crack addict. He has used herion and just about every other illegal drug.

He graduated top of his class(and not by just a little either), then he went on to college to become a Veterinarian. This was in the middle 1970's.

The campaign against Marijuana use was just getting into high gear. About the second time Lee came home from college for a visit I found him smoking a joint. I told him all about how dangerous and deadly it was, just like I had been told to by the anti-drug campaign.
Lee told me the warnings were greatly exaggerated and that he knew what he was doing, after all he was the one studying drugs in his veterinariany school.

Now later in life as I look around to see that Marijuana use has been made legal in a lot of countries and it is only a minor offense here in most of the USA. I have to come to the conclusion that the warnings must have been greatly exaggerated.

I have to wonder if the manner in which Marijuana dangers were presented has resulted in folks, especialy young folks, not believing the current anti-drug message. I know young folks generaly think they are smarter than they are, but have the way anti-marijuana warning been exaggerated has made it worse.

My bother Lee is an example of what they warned us about, but he is the exception rather than the rule.

I would estimate that better than 80% of the people,I have known, have, at one time or another, smoked Marijuana, but only about 5% went on to have a drug abuse problem.

100% of the people I have known that tried Crack Cocane are dead, in prison,orhopelessly addicted.

I don't use drugs, except for an occasional cold beer and smoking cigarettes. I try not to assocate with folks that use illegal drugs, so maybe there are more folks that try Crack Cocane that don't wind-up addicted....maybe the 100%, on average, is abit high(no pun intended).

Anyway I have been wondering if the exaggerated warnings about Marijuana has cost us a lot of creditability with the younger folks.

Thanks
Mr-Pirk

[bigbulls]

I think you may have a point about the "warnings" associated with marijuana. We all heard about how bad reefer was and how it is a gateway drug into other more harmful and addicting drugs. Bla bla bla bla bla. The fact is that marijuana is one of the least harmful "drugs" around today. Although I don't see how a plant can be considered a drug unless it has been refined like opium. The cigaretts and alcohol that you smoke and drink do more destruction to the human body than MJ ever will.

Kids are naturally rebelious against authority of any kind. If you tell them not to do something you can bet that they are going to try it at some point. I know I did. When they see that MJ gets them feeling great and with little or no side effects they may figure that other drugs will be the same.

(DAD)... Crack can kill you , Cocaine will kill you, Heroin will kill you, Don't do them or you could end up strung out and dead.

(Teen kid)... Yea right dad, that's what you said about Marijuana and my friends and I are still here.

[CamoCop]

marijuana does just as must damage, if not more, than cigarettes and alcohol. if you don't believe me, talk to someone who has been smoking it for 20 years....hence "stoners". it's like talking to a 5 year old. tobacco and alcohol, just like other drugs...can and will damage your body/organs. tobacco and alcohol are just the lesser of the evils!

[capster]

All good points , but the real trouble is that teenagers and young adults FEEL immortal. They know better but don't feel that their minds or bodies will ever deteriorate. Set a good example and tell the truth.

[CalHunter]

Mr-Pirk, I don't think the overall message about marijuana was wrong per se or created a particular loss of credibility. Most young people are going to doubt what an older person says out of sheer ignorance and basic stuck on stupid mentality simply because they are young, it hasn't happened to them and therefore they must know it all.

There is a bridge in my patrol area that kids jump off of. During the summer, it's about 40-60 feet above the water. Kids tell me bridge jumping isn't dangerous. I tell them about the submerged rocks underneath the water and how the water level shifts up and down due to the amount of water being released from dams upstream. They tell me they haven't hit one yet. I ask them if they are planning on relaying the message through some spirit medium after they hit the rock and die. They repeat that they haven't hit the rock yet.

I have people tell me that marijuana isn't dangerous either. I point out babies who are born to parents who use marijuana and ask why those babies are fussier, have attention deficit disorders and other ailments. Then I ask why studies on marijuana confirm possible birth defects and higher levels of tar and nicotine than cigarettes. I also point out from personal experience on the job that I have seen a significant # of people who use marijuana do move on to other drugs. People then tell me that marijuana isn't dangerous and doesn't lead to using other drugs. And their # 1 reason why they believe so.......is that it hasn't happened to them personally. YET!!!!

Some other people have already pointed out how cigarettes and alcohol also harm the body. The simple fact is that ingesting harmful substances into your body is not a good idea and eventually those harmful substances can cause you health problems. Pick your poison and take your chances but don't make such a foolish argument that anybody who reads even a few health studies can see right through. We all make our choices and then we need to live (or die) from the consequences.

p.s. I do not recommend the bridge jumping.

[bawanajim]

Around here the new thing the kids do is a passout game.Don't ask me what smart guy figured this out I don't know.They tie a tie or rope or any handy thing laying there around their neckand they choke them selves till they pass out.Then someones supposed to take the rope off.Not a good game to play alone.