Changing the Way We Look at Drugs

The United Nations 2007 World Drug Report released by the Office on Drugs and Crime, has good news for everyone fighting the war on drugs – the "run away train of drug addiction has slowed down."  But lest we err in thinking the problem is licked, the report also bluntly stated that one out of every 200 people in the world is “ruled by drugs.”  That means addicted.  And it doesn’t include the millions of youth and adults who are using drugs casually.

In the field of motorcycle racing and other high-risk sports the dangers of drugs is clear-cut.  If you’re not 100 percent alert while racing at 180 miles an hour, you’re taking your life in your hands.  It’s as simple as that.  But the havoc that drugs wreak on an individual’s health, family and community is also immediate and dangerous.  Drugs destroy millions of lives every year, which says nothing of its attendant crime and disease.

Based on statistics everyone of us knows someone whose life has been ruined in one way or another by drugs.  But what is most disturbing is the damage they do to young people and the threat this represents to us all.  Some try drugs to experiment or to seem cool with their friends or to rebel.  Others take them to escape or relax or because they’re bored.  But what they don’t know is that the toll, when not actually deadly, is heavy and this isn’t hype but fact.  Drugs not only make one foggy, slow reaction time and have other dangerous side effects, they destroy ability, creativity and health.  

The Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime is urging the world to change the way it looks at the drug problem, with emphasis on our collective responsibility in ridding our communities of drugs.  And with 200 million addicts populating earth today, it’s hardly something we can ignore.  You may not realize it but there is an answer in education.  The Foundation for a Drug-Free World (www.drugfreeworld.org) is one organization working to empower individuals with facts about drugs and meet this ever-growing need.  They have more than 18 million booklets with straight forward facts on marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine, crack, heroin, LSD, painkillers, "kiddie cocaine" (prescription stimulants), and methamphetamine in circulation around the world today.  

Arming people with the truth about drugs so they can make an truly informed choice.  Knowledge is power and with drugs everywhere around us, we owe it not only to ourselves but our families, friends, community and country.