Education
Drugs Abuse and Awareness
Being an ex Drugs dealer and user I am all too aware of how young people get caught up in the downwards spiral of drug abuse. I my-self had never went out "looking" for people to sell drugs to because of this I am aware of the fact that young adults will go "looking" to buy drugs. Their reasons are varied though more often the reason is to try to experience That" Buzz" that some-one else has told them about.. I have served a number of prison sentences for my past offences and have turned my back on drugs .
Each year, smoking kills more people than AIDS, alcohol, drug abuse, car
crashes, murders, suicides, and fires---combined.
(CDC, 1999)
Young adults are aware of the "choice factor" relating to nicotine and alcohol, they see through the hypocrisy surrounding the acceptance of both these drugs they know they have a choice, a "legal right" to indulge themselves whenever they please. We live in a commercially driven media rich society in which young people are constantly exposed to and bombarded with the visual exploits of others who holiday in not so far off places and naturally they will want a piece of that particular action. Teenagers in working class area's who are in low paid employment work all the hours they can get to finance such a trip to be "part of" what they have witnessed on Television or heard about from others. The others the unemployed will search for the same kick in the form of a night out and a party afterwards with all the trimmings ,which will be found from the various off sales, a dealer known to someone, or the medicine cabinet of some relative.
The" been there tried it and done that attitude" = look for something more potent to try.
(This can come in the form of solvent abuse prescription drugs and ultimately illicit drugs.)
A "River of tears" is how I will remember the 26/08/2001
I had received a phone call from my eldest daughter on that particular morning informing me that her sister had woken up to find her boy friend dead beside her and his friend who had been with him that night was breathing slightly ,an ambulance had been called and medics were franticly trying to revive him. She was crying and in the background I could hear the other members of the household crying as were the many people who had been called to the house in the panic that ensued. I remember thinking it was like a "river of tears "we were not to know at that time the river was slowly making its way from the Whiterock to Andersonstown as less than an hour later another young man was found dead.
My ex wife was in a state of panic Elizabeth was in hysterics as were the other two children Sáoirse 14 and caoílfhionn 12.The events that followed that day are now common knowledge.
Being an ex drugs dealer and listening to the events unfold down the phone left me feeling shameful, sad and helplessness as an ex dealer in the North of Ireland (West Belfast) can be a very inhospitable place and my presence could have fuelled a lot of hurtful and damaging roomers it was late into the afternoon when I eventually called to the house to witness for myself the hurt and devastation my ex wife and children had felt as it was still evident in the uncontrollable sobbing 0f her and my Children.
The parents and family's of these young men will undoubtedly be swimming against the tide in a constant battle to over come the grief they carry with them and may never get over their loss.
Society at large will apportion "blame" when and where. In this case as with many others the only defense these young men had was that of "personal choice" an uneducated choice" as the tragic results of "their choice" are witness to that fact. Education is the first line of defense with regard to many social issue's, Drug use and the abuse of drugs is no exception. Self Empowering "Personal Choice" is a factor young people feel they need to be in control of and more often than not drugs especially alcohol will deprive them of that control.
(Are young adults "full" with "Dutch courage" more likely to make the wrong choice?).
Some will be lucky some will not.
More importantly they need the information as to the effects of the drugs to be in a position to identify the symptoms of a "tragedy about to happen" the freedom of "personal choice" is indeed the last line of defense.
A lot of young people see themselves as a "raver" and getting to a rave can be the highlight of the week for them.
Rebelious
Argumentitive
Vociferious
Egalatarian
Romantic
Is a "raver" such a bad thing?
We all know drug abuse is !
The text below has been taken from another source on the www.
The link has been included.
"Wrong" Words Used to Define, Defame Addiction and Recovery
23/08/2001 Feature commentary by Bob Curley.
Together Online is a resource center and meeting place for communities working to reduce the harms associated with the use of illicit drugs, excessive alcohol and tobacco.
Reforming the language we use to describe things related to addiction is not merely an exercise in semantics or political correctness. Words can be an effective tool in helping to destroy the stigma encountered by people with addictions.
In a field that is locked in mortal combat with stigma, describing people with addictions as "abusers" of alcohol, tobacco or other drugs helps ensure that the onus of addiction remains solely upon the shoulders of the individual, discounting the role that environmental factors, genetics, and drugs themselves play in addiction.
The words used to describe addiction and recovery, the "abuse" terms are among the most ill-chosen and pernicious, says William White, author of a respected history of the addiction field and a research consultant at the Lighthouse Institute/Chestnut Health Systems.
"Terms such as alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and substance abuse all spring from religious and moral conceptions of the roots of severe alcohol and other drug problems," writes White in The Language of Recovery Advocacy: An Essay on the Power of Language. "They define the locus of the problem in the willful choices of the individual, denying how that power can be compromised, denying the power of the drug, and denying the culpability of those whose financial interests are served by promoting and increasing the frequency and quantity of drug consumption."
"To refer to people who are addicted as alcohol, drug, or substance abusers misstates the nature of their condition and calls for their social rejection, sequesterization, and punishment," adds White. "There is no other medical condition where the term abuse is applied."
Of course, many people in the field and in recovery use terms like "addicts" or "drunks" in casual conversation to describe themselves and their peers. But these terms are just as damaging in public discourse as a word like "nigger" -- another term used casually within a peer group, but that has properly been deemed unacceptable in any other context. As White notes, the recovery movement "may need to use one language when it turns inward and another language when it turns outward to communicate with the larger society."
Define Yourself, or Others Will Do it for You
Just as the mental-health field has successfully waged a campaign to rid the public airwaves, publications, and water-cooler chats of stigmatizing terms like "psychos" and "lunatics," the addiction field needs to press reporters, governments, and the public at large to stop the offhand stigmatization of people with addictions.
"Words, and the meanings with which they are imbued, can achieve accuracy and relevance, or they can transmit dangerous stereotypes and half-truths," points out White. "For more than two centuries, addicted and recovering people in America have been the object of language created by others. People experiencing severe and persistent alcohol and other drug problems have inherited a language not of their own making that has been ill-suited to accurately portray their experience to others, or to serve as a catalyst for personal change."
As Jeff Blodgett, coordinator of the pro-recovery Alliance Project, points out, changing the language of addiction is not just about erasing stigma; it's also a lever for empowering constituencies. For example, physically and mentally challenged individuals and their families received a huge psychological boost when they started thinking of themselves as "disabled," not "handicapped" or "crippled."
"What you call people often begins to define them, and limits their ability to grow," agrees Stacia Murphy, president of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. "In this field, where you're already starting from a low point in terms of stigma, words become more powerful in how a person feels about himself or herself."
Need another example of the power that even a single word can wield? Open your local paper and look for a story on tobacco. Despite years of education, you'll still find many articles that talk about tobacco addiction as a "habit."
Just think about what that says for a minute: Smokers aren't addicted to the drug nicotine; they just have a bad habit that they can't --or won't -- break. Is it any wonder that most juries in this country still think that smokers are to blame for their own addiction, and refuse to award monetary damages against tobacco companies despite the decades they spend spreading disinformation on the health risks of smoking?
The time has come for these agencies to stop referring to "abuse" rather than addiction, and alcohol as somehow being in a different category than "drugs." Public statements from Local agencies routinely use the phrase "alcohol and drugs" rather than "alcohol and other drugs" -- the latter another example where the addition of a single word would make a world of difference in public perception.
Bob Curley is a journalist who has covered addiction issues for JTO and other publications since 1991. He spends a lot of time each day editing terms like "addicts" and "substance abusers" out of the news summaries posted on Join Together Online and the JTO Direct news service.
