HOW CAN A COMMUNITY COMBAT THE DRUG MARKET?

How can a community take away the market for drugs? The question
introduces another: why do people use illegal drugs or misuse
prescription drugs?

Younger people often use drugs in an attempt to find acceptance with
peers. As one said, "It's all about belonging."

At some level, everyone wants to belong, be accepted, be needed.
Although maturity ought to reduce anxiety about fitting in, and
increase desire to serve others, older people also want a place to belong.

Adults who turn to drugs may do so to temporarily quiet the nagging
thoughts that say they do not matter. Even a bold face and a loud
mouth may hide a frightened, lonely soul.

At the same time, one should not treat as helpless victims those who
depend on substances in order to find courage.

Rather, one ought to expect them to take responsibility to move
toward becoming the persons they were created to be.

Addiction and substance abuse are complex issues and we do not mean
to apply a simplistic solution.

Yet, we must think about the opening question - how can a community
take away the market for drugs?

Since belonging is a powerful, driving force, we can help diminish
the market for drugs through consistently applying one simple
principle - mentoring.

Mentoring is a relationship in which one person reaches out to and is
available to another in order to help him or her become all God
created, called and gifted him or her to be.

Mentors do not set the agenda for those they mentor. Instead, mentors
listen well and pay attention to dreams and struggles.

Mentors are examples, sounding boards, encouragers, guides, and
sometimes teachers and experts. Mentors lead others through
individual relationships, small groups, and organizational change.
And as citizens who reduce the need for drug use, mentors help others
belong. They include others who are left out; they risk rejection in
order to build bridges.

Almost anyone can be a mentor in some way. One dreams of a culture of
mentoring where people risk emotional security, invest time, and
share something of themselves with others. And while mentors do not
impose their agendas on their mentored partners, neither do they walk
away when those they mentor make mistakes.

Their impact goes far beyond reducing the market for drugs, but as
this article is concerned with drugs, we see powerful potential in mentoring.

The groundwork for a culture of mentoring already exists in church
youth groups, community groups, schools, and sports teams. Volunteer
leaders, coaches, sponsors, and civic workers as well as political
leaders shape the community as a place where mentoring makes a difference.

Many organizations already offer opportunities for those who would be
mentors. Yet, effective mentors also give themselves outside of
useful, existing structures.

Jesus Christ taught his followers the power of overcoming evil with
good. Imagine the good that results from a community committed to
mentoring people toward their spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and
physical potential.