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People
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Families are affected by drug use every day in the lower mainland.
Some of these effects are irreparable while other effects can be
repaired. The cause of drug addiction is primarily linked to a
lack of knowledge about what to do to prevent drug use in the first
place or incorrect methods of dealing with drug use once it has
started. This article will focus on preventing youth addiction as
the major focus of attention and secondly, rehabilitating a drug user
who has become habituated or addicted to drugs.
NARCONON
PREVENTING ADDICTION
The most cost effective and successful approach
to dealing with youth and drugs is prevention. While many feel that
scare tactics or enforcement are the best methods of preventing
youth addiction, other methods are needed to communicate to the
curious, recreational or experimental user of drugs.
NUTRITION
While improper nutrition or a lack of understanding
of pathology, health and feeling good is a major factor in my opinion
to the use of drugs, I will not be addressing it in this article
fully. I recommend books by Adele Davis, Clear Body, Clear Mind
by L. Ron Hubbard or a visit to a competent naturopath or allergist.
Amazing revelations can occur through a greater understanding of
nutrition and the effects of drugs on the ability of the body to
utilize the nutrients supplied or not to the body.
STUDY
PROBLEMS
A reason for drug use by youth is difficulty
in school.. The pressures of having to do well in school and the
potential to fail are very stressful on any student. The cause of
this difficulty is lack of study skills known and applied. These
skills go far beyond memorizing, repetition of exercises or 'intelligence'.
There is a way to overcome the barriers to learning through proper
study skills used by the youth. These skills must first be learned
by the youth. I would recommend West Coast Tutoring on the North
Shore or contacting them 604 922-0601 to refer you to a center in
your area.
DRUG
USE IS A DANGER SIGN
Factually some recreational drug use does
not result in addiction. It frequently can lead to habitation or
regular drug use in an individual. The delineation of where addiction
begins and habitation ends is moot. A youth who can not use or acquire
their drug of choice when they usual expect it can experience profound
affects on their lives and their relations with others. As long
as youth have their drugs they feel or appear fine if one does not
look too closely into their lives. Drug use can start with curiosity
about what drugs do, to peer pressure
 initiating
and continuing
use, to
solving a problem in life for awhile,
to all variations in between. Problems at home can be a factor towards
youth beginning to seek escape from the pressures of reality. A
family partially out of communication can begin years before drug
use starts. Parents using drugs give a model for the youth to follow.
YOUTH
CONTRIBUTE
Youth want to contribute and work in the family
starting from a very young age. Not so long ago, it was common for
children of a young age to participate in the running of the family
business or house hold. A human being feels able and competent
only so long as he is permitted to contribute as much or more than
he has contributed to him. L. Ron Hubbard. Only when youth are
not permitted to contribute with their sometimes awkward attempts
of advice or home improvement do they cease to try to regularly
and willingly help. The parent or adult is sometimes required to
afford great tolerance and patience to these efforts to help. The
pay off is considerable if they do. The cost to the youth if not
permitted to contribute can include a feeling of not being needed
in the world or not being part of the world. Individuation can result
as well as a desire to escape from the overwhelming feeling of the
weight of obligation. "I wasn't asked to be born", "I
don't tell you what to do", the refrains are many.
BEING
A FRIEND, NOT A DRUG PROVIDER
When the reality of having to be part of the society
but not being permitted or expected to contribute, there is a temporary
solution which is promoted to the youth on TV, radio, magazines
and through friends: One of these solutions offered are drugs. The
definition of a drug takes two parts. The first is "Any substance
taken internally to remove a person from an unwanted condition and
is upsetting to the bodies natural chemistry." The real world
doesn't fully accept their attempts at contribution so they look
to escape the real world. On a social level, adults use drugs to
remove themselves from unwanted conditions every time they take
an aspirin for a headache or a coffee for a tired body. When illicit
drugs or narcotics are used by kids, these problems of life can
seem to be more easily faced with drugs or the promise of escape
through drugs. The problem may be temporarily solved but there is
tomorrow or next month, what then? The after affects of drugs on
the body are well documented in every hospital in the world: Death,
disease, dementia, accidents and stupidity and on. Well, says the
child, drugs worked before maybe they will work again? And so begins
one possible route into drug use. This is far from the only route
into drug use, but is an example of one I am familiar with and one
a parent can do something about BEFORE it becomes a problem. Expecting
contribution of kids and tolerating their foibles is a start. Considering
the definition of therapy is how you treat another person that heals
or treats their physical or mental disorders and "The best
therapy is a stable adult who gives love and tolerance to a child,"
L. Ron Hubbard, I think we could become better friends with kids.
Drug
Prevention Education
The
best way to prevent the use of drugs is with proper effective drug
education to the youth and parents long before they NEED it. Drug
education is clearly the way to prevent youth addiction from taking
hold of the future generations. Youth must decide for themselves
about drugs and will do so intelligently IF they have truly been
given skills and solutions to life challenges that work for them.
Included in these skills is a knowledge of EXACTLY how drugs affect
the mind, body, brain, attitudes of the user and what that means
to their own happiness and success even when small amounts of drugs
are being offered. These are skills because the information must
be USED by the youth in everyday life and interactions with their
friends. The ir friends or someone they meet will likely have access
to drugs. Every user I know got their first drugs from a family
member or friend for many years before they ever got drugs on the
street or from a stranger. Why would friends or family ever give
drugs to their friends? Is it possible they have false information
about drugs or lack personal skills to effectively handle real life
challenges and now use drugs to solve their situations? Being bored
or unhappy is a situation which needs to be solved by the youth.
A drug using youth is actually a testament to the failure of adults
to provide positive drug education before the youth 'learned about'
it through experimenting.
| Full
page marijuana advertisement in Vancouver newspaper |
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To
be fair the source of drug promotion is right on the television,
in the magazines, in the newspaper everyday. We have tuned them
out, but they are there. The media PROMOTES drug use every day.
The youth should at least be warned about this and taught to recognize
what to look for in newspaper articles, ads and commercials which
promote the use of drugs.
EFFECTIVE
DRUG PREVENTION
Effective drug education should include facts,
experiences, words which the kids understand, and humor. A serious
child is not a sign of maturity. Most youth like to laugh and have
fun in life. Life to kids is about having fun and being successful
in what they decide to do everyday. Learning about drugs should
also be a fun and successful experience. The success of a drug talk
is answered by the youth in "How can I now use what I learned?"
Talks should permit the students to contribute or ask questions
and fully including the participants in the learning process. An
open forum to ask questions is vital to getting youth to make informed
decisions about drugs. How can they decide to be drug-free if all
the facts about drugs are not known by them? This requires listening
to many talks on many of the popular drugs as well as the general
facts on drugs both legal and illegal. Reality is the keynote when
talking to kids. What is real to them and makes sense to them is
more important than giving the academic descriptions of which neurons
are affected or which chemical agents travel around the body or
brain.
NARCONON
VANCOUVER
Narconon Vancouver Drug Education does work
in preventing youth from using drugs. In most cases drug education
isn't being done effectively or enough. Scare tactics is not really
education though drug-devastated lives may be the reality of some
adults. Moral or permissive attitudes deliver neither a full understanding
of drugs as they may lack pertinent facts in the life of the youth
and soon to be adult. However, having a moral attitude on drugs
can make a positive difference in your kids never doing drugs so
please use your better judgment. Effective drug education would
support and never undermine the efforts of the parents or teachers
to prevent kids from using drugs. Effective drug education would
demonstrate results in preventing youth from doing drugs.
See
our outline of drug talks.
CALL
604 873-1762 FOR A NARCONON VANCOUVER DRUG TALK
Or Contact Us Online
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