A WASTE OF TIME

Editor, The Star:

I was forced to sit in on a lecture about Crystal Meth the other day.
An instructor for one of my psychology courses thought it would be a
good idea to make attendance at this lecture mandatory.

We learned all about Meth. We learned how to make it, who uses it, how
to use it, and even how much money is made in the Meth industry.
Instead of deterring people from anything and everything Meth, the
lecture seemed like a perfect advertisement for getting into the drug
trade.

For instance, did you know the profit margin is 2,800 per cent? That's
a lot of money.

If I were an unemployed and struggling person, or a student without a
future, or anyone whose future seemed bleak, the idea of the Meth
industry would be very appealing. What's this-am I supporting the drug
trade?

No. In fact, the person who gave the lecture, who has been asked to
fill very big shoes on a health committee, was supporting the drug
trade by describing it down to a T. The overall message was this: if
you want an example of good business, look at the Meth trade.

There is a highly controlled substance imported from China and it
costs something like $20,000 or $30,000. But wait, the technicians of
a Meth lab can make this from underneath your sink.

This is a very dangerous thing, Crystal Meth. However, among the many
issues I have with the lecture and with these situations in general, I
was enraged to hear the concluding lines of the lecture: "And
remember, people aren't the problem, Crystal Meth is the problem."

This wouldn't have been so bad if everyone didn't start clapping. But
someone has to draw the line somewhere and I firmly draw it here. As a
student of sophistry, bad rhetoric makes me angry. When an anti-Meth
lecture appears as a business example for aspiring business students,
that's fine. But when someone stands in front of me, after wasting
almost two hours of my time, and says that people aren't the problem,
that's not fine.

Somehow, someway, magic I suppose, we have forgotten ourselves in this
equation. We have forgotten that those people made the decision to do
drugs, those 12-year-old girls the lecturer was talking about chose to
do Meth, and guess what, all those people she showed us on screen
chose to do Meth as well.

By placing the responsibility onto the drug itself, we are
reciprocating the contemporary notion that nobody is responsible for
anything. We are feeding the monster of buck-passing (which defines
our generation)while waving a righteous and worn-outflag in its face.
We have forgotten that people made the drugs, people sell the drugs,
and more importantly, people do the drugs. Does the Crystal Meth bag
jangle around to Christmas tunes screaming "here kiddies, come and
have fun with me!" No, it doesn't. Is Crystal Meth a naturally
occurring drug in the wilderness? No.

People are the problem: People who make Meth; People who sell Meth;
People who do Meth. If we don't start taking responsibility this will
get out of control and take over. After what I've seen, maybe that's
not such a bad thing.

Byron Bidiuk

Chilliwack