The Future of Drug Education?
May 19, 2025 21:10 UTC *
If you were to relaunch D.A.R.E, what would you change?
First and foremost, "drugs" are not one and the same thing. The worst drug is alcohol, which is legal except for Muslims, nothing beats alcohol in terms of damage to health and society. Any other drug is better than alcohol, however, you cannot group them into one category "drugs", because each drug is completely different from the other.
There's also the idea that addiction is a "drug" thing, perhaps it is for opiates, but otherwise you get as easily addicted to food, sex, porn, gaming, candy & sugar, etc. etc. the problem isn't drugs in itself, it's the abuse disorder. Most people in society doesn't have an abuse disorder, for someone like me for instance, I don't get addicted to anything - and believe me I've tried, nothing sticks. We've built a society where the minority who can't handle something sets the standard for the rest of the people, if a few percent of the people can't handle something it's forbidden for the rest of the people too.
Jul 12, 2025 09:13 UTC *
I remember the 'Just Say No' "slogan", it was probably the most reductive public health message ever invented, as if substance use is a binary moral choice and not a complex intersection of neurochemistry, environment, and trauma. It’s almost poetic how confidently they preached it, while offering zero tools for navigating the realities of use. If D.A.R.E. resurfaces, maybe they’ll finally understand that informed choices require information, not slogans. Until then, we'll keep educating ourselves, like we always had to tbh
Jul 06, 2025 01:41 UTC
Ok, there's a message size limit, so I continue: The problem with the campaigns of the 80ies was that once people realized they were lying - completely, nothing was true; then it had the reverse effect. There was no internet and we didn't know more than what they told us: that if you just sniff hash once you'll become psychotic and turn to heroin the next day.
Today, with internet, all information is on the table, anyone can make the research and learn what is true, anyone can learn what is dangerous and how to minimize damage. Campaigns such as D.A.R.E. and similar pose only as "opinion", it's the same as the preacher warning us of sin against God and that we should read the Bible - sure, that's your opinion, not mine.
Jul 12, 2025 09:23 UTC *