Rethinking Drugs: Does Drug Education Work?

We all remember the High School Assemblies on Drugs and Alcohol; We all remember the "this is your brain on drugs" commercials; And of course we all knew the school druggies and burnouts. In America, Drug Education is pretty much mandatory for students of all ages. Everyone learns ways to say, "No," and how you can be cool by staying off of drugs. But how effective are these efforts to reduce an addicted America? Do these programs help or hurt? And are they really telling the truth about drugs' effects on the human brain?

Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.), is an in-classroom series of lessons led by local officers. The program started up in Los Angeles in 1983, when the youth of America had turned to harder drugs that were staring gang wars, spreading diseases, and creating life-long denizens of drug-hub cities. While a good idea which was motivated by a desire to give students a jump on knowing how to say no, D.A.R.E. has had several serious downfalls.

Part of the problem with all drug education programs, like D.A.R.E., is that the education given is not always put to good use. Students are associated with the names of drugs, both the common names as well as street names. Students are shown pictures of drugs, adding to their drug savvy. Not only are they educated on what drugs to look for, but they are also pushed to feel a certain way about drugs that are controversial, and in fact, may be less harmful than current legalized drugs.

The drugs that the D.A.R.E. program lists are :

Alcohol

Cocaine

Crack-Cocaine

Ecstasy

GHB

Heroin

Inhalants

LSD Tablets

Marijuana

Methamphetamine

Ritalin

Tobacco

Yaba - "Nazi Speed" (www.dare.com)

While each of these drugs do, in fact, cause harmful effects to the body, there are several problems with this list. It fails to acknowledge the drug, caffeine, which a large portion of the American population encounters every day. While caffeine is legal, and safe for most individuals in small doses, it is addictive and causes those addicted to the drug to experience painful withdrawals when they are deprived of the drug. Caffeine is a stimulant which could cause serious problems in people with heart disease. Another problem with this list, is the listing of Ritalin. While Ritalin is abused by those who do not suffer with ADHD, there are children in the class who do take the drug legitimately. Teaching these children and their classmates that Ritalin is a "bad drug" could cause these children emotional distress and ridicule for simply treating their disorder.

A final problem with the approach D.A.R.E. takes, is that it creates a taboo perception of these drugs. Many children are highly motivated to push their boundaries, and when educated of a new way in which to do so, will be far more likely to seek out these substances to solidify a "bad boy" or "bad girl" image. This, of course, doesn't even scratch the surface of the issue of the validity of the information they give these children on the behalf of scaring them to the straight and narrow.

So, do drugs really burn out your brain like the commercials say they do? The simple answer: No. In a recent lecture by Dr. L. Brannon, it was made apparent that all research shows that most drug abuse does not cause injury to the brain. There are only a few drugs with adverse effects on your brain: Alcohol and stimulants such as Methamphetamines. Alcohol, when consumed extensively (as seen in Alcoholism) can cause Korsakoff's Syndrome, "a neuropsychological disorder characterized by memory loss, sensory and motor dysfunction, and in its advanced stages, severe dementia" (Biopsychology, 7th edition by John P. J. Pinel, pgs 380-381). In milder intakes (i.e, a night of binge-drinking) it triggers apoptosis (the programmed death of neural cells, which are not replaced). Stimulants like Methamphetamines cause a psychosis similar to the effects of cocaine. Research on lab animals has shown that ecstasy (methylenedioxymethamphentamine or MDMA) has toxic effects on serotonin and dopamine receptors as well as damage to areas of the brain which effect "...executive functioning, inhibitory control, and decision making" (Pinel, pg. 384). Do note, however, that these are the effects of these drugs on the brain exclusively. There is no dispute that drugs are very dangerous to other areas of the human body. However, this begins to pull the string on the idea of your brain on drugs being a fried egg.

There are some definite problems to America's approach to drug education. Students aren't being given the whole truth, and are being spoon-fed the opinions of current American leaders. Students should be given the facts, shown truth, and let to draw their own conclusions. It is only in this way, that America can grow into a country that encourages change and new solutions. In closing, I leave you with these recent findings from Switzerland:

The Swiss government had a problem with heroine addicted citizens. They chose a strange approach to solving this problem: opening clinics where addicts would receive treatment, and as part of that treatment, heroine injections from a doctor for a small payment. As a result of this unconventional solution heroine addicts are no longer found lurking the streets, drug-related crime has been reduced, heroine use by addicts has declined, as well as reports of new heroine addicts.