Basic HTML Version
GIVING HOPE TO
YOUTH
WITHOUT HOPE
by
Clayton Steep
H
EIDI
S. has a diary.
~he
is a
heroin junk–
Ie.
Nine weeks after her first
heroin fix, she wrote:
"Even if I get hooked, I could
care less. Another war's coming
anyway."
A German Prt>blem
Anxiety about life-the Germans
call it
Lebensangst-marks
much
of West Germany today. Appre–
hension of nuclear war is one of
the many reasons Heidi began to
take drugs, and one of the many
reasons d rug addiction in general
is on the rise throughout Western
Europe.
Hopelessness has significantly
contributed to spiraling drug
offenses in West Germany, up by
21.3 percent from 1979 to 1980,
more than any other crime catego–
ry. Marijuana, hash, heroin and
cocaine are smuggled in increasing
amounts into the country. Other
German-language areas-East
Germany and .Austria- are also
affected.
Drug problems in German–
speaking Europe are a reflection of
aching social problems common in
the industrialized West. The
grad–
ual erosion of the family
plays a
decisive role. Sixty percent of
addicts come from broken or sin–
gle-parent homes.
Where homes are intact out–
wardly, drug counselors often hear:
"My parents never had any time
for me." In a Cologne study of the
home life of 100 jailed addicts,
researchers found chronic Jack of
family communication present in
nearly every case.
May 1982
In addition, many parents resort
to stimulants themselves. West
Germans spend incredible sums on
alcohol and tobacco prod ucts.
Authorities reckon with 1.6 million
alcoholics in the Federal Republic,
one million in East Germany and
abundant life' ... so our youth
feel a type of group pressure [to
drink] .... "
Officials recognize the impor–
tance of this deadly pressure. A
brochure put out by West Germa–
ny's Federal Center for Health
Education warns: "The misuse of
'drugs' such as alcohol , cigarettes
EASlER TO OBTAlN THAN DRUGS, ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES ARE
being consumed by a growing number of young people
in
Europe. Reasons given
include peer pressure, a craving for a "high," a desire to forget about family
problems and the overshadowing threat of the 8omb.
300,000 in Austria. Dr. Reinhart
Stalmann, psychotherapist in Mu–
nich, laments:
"We West Germans have
become a people of drinkers dur–
ing the last 30 years. Fifty-eight
percent of all men drink beer dai–
ly, 18 percent wine and 13 per–
cent hard liquor.... Having a
drink has become essential to 'the
and medicines by parents and
adults serves as a key model for our
youth. They get to know drug
abuse as a form of 'impersonal need
fulfillment.' ' '
Why is there this need to escape
reaJity- to cloud the mind and dull
or artificially stimulate the senses?
What is missing to make life so
unfulfilling?
39