DRUGS IN OUR SCHOOLS - WHY NOT?

I am a graduate of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, the
primary "demand-side" drug-control strategy of the War on Drugs,
operating in 80 percent of our nation's school districts. Uniformed
police officers teach fifth and sixth graders about the evils of
drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse, focusing on increasing self-esteem
and reducing peer pressure. I signed a pledge, which I later
violated, to never join a gang or use drugs, and then I got a free T-shirt.

Unfortunately for the War on Drugs, D.A.R.E. doesn't reduce drug use.
A six-year study published in the Journal of Research in Crime and
Delinquency found that graduates of the program are actually more
likely to use alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs. It would appear
that the system is broken.

Indoctrination is rarely as successful as honesty, and our national
approach to drug education is nothing if not dishonest. The problem
is not falsehoods being taught as fact; most of the lies inherent in
these programs are lies by omission. Schools teach children all the
bad things about drugs, glossing over the good things. Drugs are
vilified, as are the people who use them. At some point, reality
intrudes, and things fall apart: Fifth and sixth graders, so ready to
listen to a man in a uniform, grow up a bit. In the truest spirit of
education and discovery, they seek to experiment, to determine for
themselves if the world they learn about in school is the same one in
which they live.

They begin to ask questions. If I'm allowed to buy tobacco at the age
of 18, and I'm allowed to buy alcohol when I'm 21, how old must I be
to purchase this "cannabis" thing you speak of? Next, they discover
that casual drug use is no more dangerous than legal hobbies like
mountain biking.

Part of the problem here

A truly comprehensive curriculum would encourage trust from students.
Once students think that they've been deceived, it's hard to keep
from disregarding the entire lesson plan. is the discrepancy between
science and law. Marijuana is illegal, but it is incredibly safe
compared to other oft-abused drugs like alcohol, heroin and cocaine.
There has never been a case of accidental overdose, and numerous
scientific studies suggest that THC, a prominent component in
marijuana, does not kill brain cells, does not cause permanent loss
of any brain function and does not cause lung cancer, even in heavy smokers.

According to the U.K. Medical Research Council and the Science &
Technology Committee, even ecstasy is less dangerous than alcohol and
tobacco. Neurotoxicity from MDMA occurs only through dehydration,
hyperthermia and low antioxidant levels.

If drug education programs want to protect children from harm, they
should be honest about these things. My D.A.R.E. officer should have
said: "Hey kids, ecstasy is illegal, but if you ever do it, make sure
to stay hydrated. Drink fruit juice or iced tea instead of just
water, so you avoid hyponatremia."

Even more elementally, a truly comprehensive curriculum would
encourage trust from students. Once students think that they've been
deceived, it's hard to keep from disregarding the entire lesson plan.
It doesn't even matter if the deception is intentional or
unintentional, the result of addition or omission - someone will
notice and then credibility dies forever.

Now you're asking, "But why, if schools are so bad at drug education,
should they even bother? Why not leave it up to parents, or
television or the Internet?" Well, that's a very good question, and
I'm glad you asked it. Here's my answer: We don't get to vote for
parents and we can't choose what's on TV except through fickle market
forces. As for the Internet, Web sites like Wikipedia and Erowid are
excellent tools, but we've got a big drug problem in America. Too
many people are addicted to drugs like meth and Prozac and alcohol,
too many people misunderstand the effects of fun drugs like cannabis
and alcohol and ecstasy, and not enough people are teaching new
generations how to tell the difference.

The education system is also wonderfully situated to provide hands-on
training in a safe environment. Why not serve some red wine with
cafeteria lunches? Red wine has many valuable nutrients, and if
there's one thing that third graders need after a morning of
arithmetic and spelling, it's a stiff drink.

Once the students hit adolescence, they should be provided with a
small psychoactive drug starter kit, containing samples of the least
dangerous drugs, plus a little handbook listing the unsafe dosages,
by body weight, of popular recreational drugs.

If the idea of giving drugs to our students offends you, here's a
compromise: We'll set it up just like a sex-ed course, and the
teacher can stand at the front of the room and demonstrate, just like
with the condom-banana demonstration. This is your D.A.R.E. officer,
this is your D.A.R.E. officer on drugs - any questions? If there's
one thing that a cop needs after a day of teaching rowdy fifth
graders about drugs, it's a nicely rolled joint. As spoken by the
indispensable Samuel Clemens, "Man should practice moderation in all
things, including moderation."