THE BRIGHT AND DARK SIDE OF DRUGS

The human brain remains one of mankind's most complex labyrinths.

It contains a million mysteries!

Scientists and doctors specializing in the brain know a great deal about
it, but they're also the first to say they have huge regions to explore and
discover just what's happening in these unfamiliar reaches that run our
body, create our moods, stimulate responses, cause us to love, to hate, to
laugh, to cry.

Keeping this in mind, it's so difficult then for many of us to understand
why certain people want to destroy this vital part of their own very existence.

Our vice-president of patient care services sent me a rather cerebral
article on drugs and a substance known as serotonin. I found the article
fascinating, but I must confess much of it went whooshing right over my head.

It's the type of article typically appearing in medical periodicals and
requires a lot of related knowledge to understand the finer points being made.

But it was tremendously interesting for me because it "teased" my little
grey cells a little, and gave me a tiny glimpse into what greater minds are
doing to help us understand and work with this ultra-important aspect of
our body's makeup.

The one thing that came through loud and clear was a bold lead sentence
introducing the article, it said, "I think you have to accept there's a
structural change in your brain when you take (certain drugs)."

That's the crux of the matter.

And it gets to the heart of the reason people - whether young or old -
simply cannot afford to abuse drugs.

Drugs, including the chemical formulae that range from the very familiar
aspirin to the horribly frightening boiler-room concoctions like Ecstasy
which literally fries the brain and can have fatal consequences.

The substance serotonin, which I mentioned earlier, is contained in the
brain and can be stimulated by chemicals we take.

Researchers are still trying to solve the jigsaw puzzles of the brain and
its varied aspects such as this substance, but they now suggest that
certain chemicals can alter our brains in ways scientists never imagined.

The article doesn't define the exact way our brains are altered so I can't
share this with you.

But what was driven home for me was the fact we must be so careful in
staying within prescribed dosages and walking a very straight line when
taking drugs.

Scientists are revealing new techniques and substances to assist our
medical community which sets up the potential for the elusive cure for
cancer, cardiac disease, diabetes and a host of other ills.

This is the bright and shiny side of a picture full of hope and optimism
for the future.

But there is a dark side.

That side is where people coerce, pressure and persuade others to get a
fleeting and momentary "high" from taking certain mind-altering substances.

That side is where the dregs of humanity manufacture - for huge profits -
these terribly dangerous chemicals and sell them to children who, in their
own mind's eye, are virtually indestructible. That side is a problem we all
face.

We need to work together to eliminate this dark and frightening side.

The heavy hand doesn't seem to work. What does appear to work is getting
our kids on side and showing them the benefits of good risk-taking as
opposed to bad.

Most of us are pretty good ... we just have to make sure our side is
stronger than theirs!