Basic HTML Version
GETTING HIGH-
whosays:
<t<tlt
Doesn't Affect
Me~~?
Why do people take drugs? Users range from executives with a $500,000-a-year income to
your son or daughter. What's the motivating factor?
1
T 's TIME
for sorne straight
talk.
We are in the midst of a
social revolution that is virtuaJ–
Iy out of control. A recently
released s urvey by the U.S.
National lnstitute on Drug Abuse
(N IDA) now discloses an "as–
tounding" rise in the consump–
tion of marijuana by young
adults. The survey uncovered the
fact that two out of three Ameri–
cans between the ages of 18 and
25 have smoked the drug and
fully
one third
of that figure have
tried hallucinogens, cocaine or
heroin.
We are not talking about tens
or hundreds. This survey shows
that multiple millions of young
adults, the people that used to be
refer red to as "the leaders of
tomorrow," have extensively sam–
pled substances classified by the
U.S. government as narcotic–
dangerous material.
According to secretary Patricia
Har ris of Health and Human Ser–
vices (HHS), concern and fear
over the tremendous rise in illegal
(and dangerous) drug use are
"well-founded." Grotesquely, of–
ficials in the NIDA say "the
survey probably underestimates
drug use to sorne exten
t. "
Chances are, even though you
may not have realized it, you
probably are somewhat familiar
with drug users. Ev((r watch pro–
fessional basketball? Recent in–
vestigative action has shown that
12
by
Michael A. Snyder
cocaine is a mainstay in the hotel
rooms and bornes of several pro–
fessional basketball players. The
players assert they "need" the
substance to relax from high–
paced schedules.
To sorne, this is no big matter.
The basketball players are simply
joining a long list of historie
cocaine users that includes Sig–
mund Freud, Pope Leo XI_II ,
President William McKinley and
Thomas Edison. Not to mention
executives of large corporat ions,
movie and music celebrities and
others of material wealth ade–
quate to afford the white Raky
substance.
The " l t Doesn ' t Affect Me"
Syndrome
If you're one of the increasingly
diminishing uninitiated insofar as
drugs are concerned, this may
seem distant and unrelated to
your Jife. But if you think about
it, drugs probably strike closer to
you than you realize.
You're driving home on the
freeway. As you casually glance
at the small sports car passing
you, yoúr gaze is suddenly frozen
at the sight of a well-dressed
woman "toking" on a short,
colorful hash pipe. Ever walk
through a park and see a group of
teenage kids with blaring radios
making a general , but seemingly
harmless, nuisance of themselves.
That smell of burning leaves
wafting through the air is proba-
bly the remnant of charred weed
expelled through teenage lungs.
Yes, the drug culture, once gen–
erally thought to be confined to a
small group of people labeled " hip–
pies," has now grown to massive
proportions in our society. The
movement toward drug abuse has
grown to the point where recent ly a
judge and lawyer husband-wife
team were implicated for growing
marijuana on their property, and
an adviser to the President of the
United States had to step down
from his officiaJ capacity for pre–
scribing a powerful tranquilizer in
an illegal fashion.
As this all serves to illustrate,
we are a society nearly gone
mad.
However, if you are one that
embraces the illicit use of drugs,
current trends may be rather
pleasing.
Richard Ashley, the author of
a highly respected book on co–
caine, urges that "illicit drugs
should be legalized and controlled
in the way alcohol is regulated."
Officials of the · U.S. National
Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws (NORML) echo
these sentiments: " [The NIDA]
survey is just another in a long
line that shows marijuana is here
to stay in our society ... sales [of
marijuana] could be regulated
just like liquor and tobacco."
Despite appeals and stepped-up
government programs against
abuse, increasing numbers of
The
PLAIN TRUTH