HYPOCRISY KILLS NO-DRUG MESSAGE

WESTHURY nursing sister Heather Donaldson is a firm believer in a
harm-minimisation approach to drugs rather than the zero-tolerance
strategies favoured until now.

She said the zero-tolerance approach did not work because teenagers were
into risk-taking and were unlikely to resist doing some experimentation.

"It is part of growing up, and prohibition just does not work," she said.

"Zero tolerance doesn't work because of the hypocrisy of parents saying not
to take drugs when coffee, alcohol, tobacco and chocolate all contain drugs."

When a message contained some hypocrisy, youngsters tended to dismiss the
whole message.

Mrs Donaldson, a mother of four, has written a small book of aphorisms
entitled Drugs: High Hopes And Sudden Silences.

She says one of the main messages of the book is that kids should be
informed about drugs before they try them.

"A lot of kids try drugs without knowing anything about them and may only
find out about harmful side-effects when they take them," she said.

"If they know the harmful effects before they take them they can decide
whether it is worth the risk.

"If they go in with their eyes open they know what to look out for.

"An example is in the case of ecstasy, where it is important to keep up the
fluids."

She also emphasised how important it was for young people to have good
self-esteem.

"If a kid feels good about himself there is much less chance that he will
be pressured into taking drugs or doing something he doesn't want to do,"
she said.

Mrs Donaldson said parents should be there to minimise harm if a drug
experience went wrong.

They should also keep the communication channels open.

She said that concentration on hard drugs defied the National Campaign
Against Drug Abuse statistics, which showed that 97 per cent of the 25,500
drug deaths a year were due to alcohol and tobacco and just 2 per cent to
opiates and 1 per cent to other illicit drugs.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski