Substance abuse prevention

Hear From the Expert Feature Article

Dear Expert,

Why Is the Sky Falling? Why Everything Seems to be Going Wrong?

- A Parent

Dear Parent,

Remember when Chicken Little kept screaming "The sky is falling, the sky is falling?" Well, it is and I'm going to sound an alarm and you must listen before it's too late. I am going to address a major American tragedy; it is overwhelming, mind boggling and so complicated that no one seems to be able to solve it. So we put it on a back burner and respond with a knee jerk reaction because we are often clueless.

We've dared it (DARE Program), we've scared it, and we've fried egg bewared it (Partnership for a Drug Free America - your brain on drugs TV spot), prevented it, interdicted it, preached about it, confiscated, incarcerated, destroyed crops, searched lockers, trained dogs. Kids die over it, parents cry over it, counselors sigh over it, people lie over it, tons of money is thrown at it, tons of things are written about it. Families break up over it. It causes car accidents, fights, hospitalizations, untimely death, suicide, smashed relationships, damaged friendships, lost jobs, murder, sexual assaults, violence, incarceration and poverty. As a matter of fact it is behind all that is wrong in our society. Go to the prisons anywhere and count the numbers of people who are there because of drug abuse - you'll be shocked.

One would think that if it causes so much tragedy why are our kids challenging death every day just to use it? Kids say it helps them fit in, helps them not to worry, lets them get close to people, fixes boredom, and numbs mind and bodies. They say it, "helps me have sex without feeling bad about myself, gives me a reputation for being cool, helps me handle major losses, helps me lessen worries about school, helps me have fun, helps me block out family problems and everything that hurts. It even helps me to stop thinking about suicide."

These kids love the rituals of packing a blunt or rolling a joint or planning to find someone to buy alcohol. They get to belong to a group of kids who are also stoned or drunk and therefore not judgmental. Many kids say it helps them to belong, maybe for the first time in their lives. In short, the warmth from the drink or the numb from smoke, the relaxing from the pills, and the intensity of some feeling is seen as nothing short of a miracle.

As a response communities develop programs to try to stop it or address its devastating effects. They open boot camps, homeless shelters, women's shelters, detoxification facilities, half way houses, long programs, short programs, outpatient programs, wilderness programs and anything that seems as if it might work. We have spent millions on needs assessments and hear the grim statistics over and over again. NOTE: we won't do much with the findings like funding programs but we seem to like hearing the staggering statistics. I can give them a statistical report without spending a cent - IT'S OUT OF CONTROL - IT IS KILLING THE PEOPLE WE LOVE!

Maybe the time has come to try to figure out where it gets its incredible power. I know this power first hand because I have had a front row seat for over 35 years, allowing me to witness its destruction. It almost seems alive and the promise of blissful peace is a lure as big as the ocean.

Perhaps an overly simplistic but true answer is that when families fill and families nurture and families embrace and families protect and families are vigilant and members feel loved and members feel cared about and members feel proud to be a member they do not desperately seek something that will for the time being fill emptiness and loneliness. Substance abusers are starving and need to satisfy the hunger. It's bigger than all of us and more powerful than anything one can imagine yet the answer to the problem can be found in families. In every city and town in Rhode Island the price paid in dollars and in losses is staggering. Did anyone running for any office have an opinion - a platform - a plan to address it? NO! Not a word. What a tragedy.

For any questions or comments, please call the expert (Susan D. Wallace, Executive Director, CaritasRI, (401) 722-4644 Ext. 301, visit CaritasRI.org, or email Susan) and mention the Hear From the Expert article at Be In The Know RI.

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