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peoplc are turning lo drugs.
There is a reason! In spi le of lhe
unknown--of high r isks. financial
rip-offs and a whole hosl of other
unpleasantries-we conl inue lO
see d rug abuse rise.
We ask, why the nced fo r
drugs?
3,QOO-year-old Facts
An cxlremely wise man who lived
almost 3,000 years ago experi–
enced sorne of the th ings that
encourage people to use drugs.
Performing a classic experimenl
where he loyed and experimented
wilh cvery pleasure known to man,
Solomon-the king of lsrael–
found himself up against a pitiless.
impassable brick wall. "Nolhing,"
he wrote in conclusion ofh is exper–
iment, "in this world is worth–
whilc" (Ecclesias tes 2:1 1-12,
Moffatt lranslation).
Probably one of the richesl
mcn on carth at the time. Solo–
mon spared no expense in tesling
all lhc material items of this
world: he built incredible man–
sions. developed farms and or–
chards that exceed the imagina–
tion: he surrounded himself with
playthings. beautiful women. and
slavcs for every purpose: he pul
together large orchestras to play
al his command: he continucd on
saying: ' ' Nothing 1 coveted did 1
deny myself' (Ecclesiastes 2: 1
O.
Moffatt).
Thc concl usion? " Bul when l
turncd lo look at a ll 1 had
achieved and at my toil and trou–
ble. then it was a ll vai n and
fu ti le" (Ecclesiastes 2:11 ).
The result? "So
T
hated life; for
all thal goes on under the sun
secmed evi l to me, all of it vain and
fulile" (Ecdesiastes 2: 17-18).
An incredible stalement by a
man God says was lhe wisesl who
ever lived! Unforlunately, many
of us never learn this lesson: arti–
ficial props like materialism. illi–
cit drug use and effor ts turned
inward produce empliness, frus–
tralion and unhappiness. l f you
go back lhrough l he cases of drug
abuse you will see i n man y
inslances seem ingl y normal
people who. for sorne reason or
anolher, lried lo fill
~
vacuum m
lheir lives arlificially.
14
The facl is thal drugs do suc–
ceed somewhal in numbing lhe
pain of emptiness!
lf
you have no
goal, no purpose-or worse yet,
your goals and purposes have
been fr ust rated- lhe natural
emot ional reaction is to become
depressed or anx ious.
Psychiat r ists like Dr. Víctor
Frankel recognize the desire and
hunger for meaning in li fe as
man 's basic motivation . Wben
this desi re is fr u slrated or
crusbed , the person finds himself
in a crisis. He comes up against
the same wall of uncompromising
truth that Solomon d id . Now this
void of emptiness may not of
itself push the individual over
into hís first joi nt of marijuana.
But it creates a fert ile bed lhal is
very accommodating when
tempted by peer pressure or other
elements of society.
The Real Reason
So the basic underlying cause of
drug abuse can be seen- society
itself creates the si tuation. Our
society does not teach people how
to cope posilively wi lh crisis.
1t
does provide the means by which
anybody can obtain short term
rel ief from the emolions and feel–
ings that accompany fut ilily.
Do you enjoya glass of wine ora
couple of bottles of beer? More–
over- be honest-do you enjoy the
feeling of lightheadedness thal a
few ounces of alcohol bring? Or
how aboul the rclaxing feeling
brought about by a couple of ciga–
rettes? Chances are- you would
enjoy taking cerlain drugs.
T he truth is, freed from inhibi–
tions. you wou ld probably like the
warm, euphoric sensations result–
ing from a couple of "tokes'' on
sorne marijuana. Plus. you might
enjoy the "pleasure" of perform–
ing an illegal act. Slriking back at
" big brother" who says you can't
have your fun - yo u can take
authority to yourself- propping
up a sagging ego. Aulhor Richard
Ashley claims lhat inslead of cur–
tailing the use of illicit d rugs,
statutes against use acl ually "ac–
l ively promote it. ..
What a tragedy!
Fu rthcr, l rying lo "scare"
leenagers and young ad ults inlo
abstaining from drugs is not prov–
ing fruitful. As a result of lhe
N IDA's find ings, Secretary Har–
r is has ordered government pro–
grams against drugs lo increase
their intensily.
Most tecnagers know the linc
of educators. " Drugs will kili
you! "
Unfortu nately, drug abuse is so
widespread that sooner or later.
thc tcenager (or young adult) will
come under peer pressure to sam–
ple marijuana. You may know the
feeling- the uneasy knot of fcar
as you succumb to taunts and
inhale smokc from your first
joint- hoping against hope that
the educators are wrong and you
won't be harmed.
After a few puffs you a re
amazed that your heart is still
pumping. you sti ll havc control
over your body-but better yel.
you now havc this greal feeling of
drug-induced happiness. And the
credibilily of the educators drops
to zero. Next time, you hear thc
same educators speaking about
the dangers of PCP. a drug that
has caused documented cases of
permanent psychosis. You com–
pare notes with your friends and
dismiss thc warnings as more pro–
paganda- possibly with fatal con–
sequences to you.
And this scenario is repeated
hundreds of times every day!
Clearly lhen, man can'l trcat
drug abuse by passi ng stricter laws
or paying educators lo preach about
its evils. That's lrcating the effect–
not the cause.
The fact is that severa] people
who preach againsl drugs actually
use them! One consultant in a
state educational agency told me
about widespread use-to the
point where roughly 25 percenl of
thc paid professional staff smokcd
pot rcgularl y!
" How can you cope without
drugs?" s he as ked ser io us ly.
"Nobody cares- who can offcr
me anything better?' '
And there you have it. Always
looking promising, drugs are a
classic temptress. But in the end
come the feelings of loneliness,
cheapncss, terr ible emptiness, de–
pression. Artificial props, drugs
(Cont inued on page J8)
The
PLAIN TAUTH