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Why
The Ambassador College
Educational Program?
Hundreds, impressed
by
our worldwide work,
hove asked this question .
W
E uvE
in rhe age of knowl–
edge
shock. Our scnscs are
conrinually bombardcd
wirh crisis afrer crisis. Ar breakfasr
we
are srunned by che latesr prison rior.
By lunchrime a new war has brokcn
our. During rhe afrernoon rush hour,
a bizarre gang murder has occurred.
On che evening news, we hcar rhar
uncmploymenr is rising alarmingly.
This is our dai ly dier of woes.
\'(/e
are forced ro devour rhese woes via
magazines, ncwspapers, radio, rele–
vision and books. Voices of apoca–
lypse, borh secular and religious, rell
us Armageddon is knocking ar our
door. \'<lesrern manis painfully aware
thar he Ji ves on
:t
globe wracked wirh
social and polirical diseases. This
problem barrage has even causcd an
uncxpecred reaction. Many peoplc
simply rcfusc ro rhink, read or hear
abour our globe-girdling dilemmas.
N
ceded:
The Voice of Hope
\'(/e
need, more rhan ever, a voice
rhar speaks out on che problems of
our rime and pinpoinrs che causes,
making plain che ultimare happy
solurion. \'(/e need a voice rhar rings
PLAIN TRUTH November 1972
by
Paul W. Kroll
wirh hope and brings a promise of a
berrer world tomorrow.
Is ir any wonder, rhen, rhar we l ive
in che age of
che
"solurion shock"? A
barrage of organizarions, crusaders
and special inreresr groups are desper–
arely crying ro solve
che
problems we
face. Like so many sociological aspirin
cablees, rhcy are alleviating sorne pain
herc and rhere. Yer, so ofren rhc work
of rhese crusaders ends in social, eco–
nomic, mental and sp irirual frusrra–
rion.
Heroin addicrion is a case in point.
A synrheric drug, merhadone, is
lauded as a solurion ro heroin addic–
rion. ·'Build clinics ro adminisrer
merhadone ro addicrs, and you will
alleviate drug abuse," we are assured
by cerrain concerned crusaders. The
idea may seem ro have irs merirs. In
San Francisco, Cal ifornia, a psychia–
rrisr credited che d rop in rhe ciry's
major crime rare ro mcrhadone crear–
mene. He predicted rhar che overall
crime rare would drop even more
rhan che 15 percenr reponed by police
srarisrics as more addicts were
enrolled for methadone rrearmenc.
Ir cerrainly is encouraging ro
see
rhe crime rare go clown. Buc discern–
ing people can immediately spor rhe
one central problem in chis approach.
The mechadone cure is, afrer all , only
rrearing che
EFFECf
by subsrituring
one
drug for another. If we are ro
permanendy eliminare drug abuse, we
muse reach che minds of che addicrs
and rhosc responsible for rheir addic–
rion. And we muse change che envi–
ronment in which
they
exist.
Trcating elfecrs rather rhan causes
can lead ro sorne shocking backfires.
Merhadonc, for example, may gradu–
ally join heroin and orher drugs as a
black marker commodity on Ameri–
can streers. Sorne "ouc" patiems on
merhadone rrearmenr reportedly have
been selling pare of rheir alloned
doses ro purchase heroin, barbirurares,
ampheramines or alcohol.
\'(/e symparhizc wieh che need ro
stop rhe crimc caused by addicts, bur
rrearing che effecr by subsr iruring
anorher drug is nor che real solution.
Drug addicrion can be prevenred
only if che rhinking of people using
drugs and che condirions under which
those people live are changed. These
changes need ro be made both in
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