Whatever you do, don’t think of purple elephants on pogo sticks.
I mean it.
Don’t.
Just Say No.
Did it work? Are you blissfully unaware of purple elephants on pogo sticks? I’m guessing not. Chances are, you weren’t thinking at all of purple elephants on pogo sticks until I told you not to think about them.
I believe it’s the same with kids and drugs. I believe kids would rather do a gazillion other things before drugs, yet there is a program called D.A.R.E. which goes into schools and attempts to educate kids about drugs.
While I applaud the intention of the program and I know the many fine police officers who participate in D.A.R.E. truly care about the kids, I’m unsure that D.A.R.E. is the right approach. Numerous academic studies have shown that D.A.R.E. has had a negligible impact on teen drug use. Negligible. In some cases, D.A.R.E. may have actually increased drug use. Millions and millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on this program and the results are dismal.
I was disappointed to see a sign recently put up outside my son’s elementary school door, reading “we have better things to do than drugs.” Can we please keep elementary school a haven for happy kid stuff and not remind them of drugs every day they arrive? Aren’t we directing their curiosity towards with these messages? Remember the purple elephants?
We’re a society that is literally awash in drugs. Nearly every municipal water supply in America tests positive for trace amounts of drugs. We celebrate alcohol, hawk cigarettes, sell caffeinated beverages on every street corner. “Ask your doctor” is the mantra of television commercials. How is a kid supposed to believe drugs are bad when everyone she knows uses them?
It’s true I am an advocate for legalizing marijuana. Efforts to restrict its use have long since lost all credibility. Instead I would like its sale to be regulated, which is something we are not doing today. I want the other, more harmful drugs to remain as hard to get as possible. I also want kids to make good choices, and the best way to do that is to accentuate the positive.
You get what you focus on. You don’t get peace by being anti-war, you get peace by being pro-peace. An anti-drug message will never be as effective as a pro-clean-living message. The mission of D.A.R.E. is a noble mission but I’d much rather have an effective mission. It’s time we rethink our drug strategy.
Let’s find something that works and Just Say No to the status quo.