{"id":13008,"date":"2017-02-09T15:12:28","date_gmt":"2017-02-09T15:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=13008"},"modified":"2017-10-04T11:11:43","modified_gmt":"2017-10-04T11:11:43","slug":"what-child-is-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2017\/02\/what-child-is-this\/","title":{"rendered":"What Child Is This?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Robert Charles<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Christmas carol is poignant \u2013 reminder of Christmas, and beyond.\u00a0 \u201cWhat child is this, who, laid to rest \u2026\u201d the carol begins.\u00a0 \u201cWhom angels greet with anthems sweet, while shepherds watch are keeping?\u201d it continues.\u00a0 The stanza ends, \u201cHaste, haste \u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Lovely, lilting, full of promise \u2013 like the birth of a child.\u00a0 Here, a special child \u2013 but also every child.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a season of joy, it is a message of joy.\u00a0 But the mind wanders, to our mortal world.\u00a0 New numbers on drug addiction and drugged driving death, so many lost souls \u2013 mitigate the joy.\u00a0\u00a0 They caught me off guard this week. My brother, a high school teacher, shared with me the loss of another student, another fatal crash, as drugged driving numbers rise.\u00a0 What is the season for heartbroken parents \u2013 but a season of loss?\u00a0 Each year, upwards of 100,000 parents lose a child to drug abuse.<\/span><\/p>\n

What child is this?\u00a0 It is America\u2019s child, and America\u2019s childhood.\u00a0 How is it that we have, collectively, forgotten to keep watch over those entrusted to our watch \u2013 especially from high office?\u00a0 Last year, 47,055 Americans, most of them young, were lost to drug abuse \u2013 just statistics now.\u00a0 Why?<\/span><\/p>\n

In part, because so many Americans have heard a mixed message from their leaders \u2013 with devastating effects. Led to believe drugs are \u201crecreation,\u201d something not different from beer or wine, kids try and die.\u00a0 Synthetic opioids, heroin, cocaine, high potency marijuana \u2013 then to ER, or not even, and mortuary. Numbers do not lie.<\/span><\/p>\n

Drugged driving is now another epidemic.\u00a0 Drivers and helpless passengers are all at risk, along with everyone on the road.\u00a0 Near home, not long ago, several kids died in a terrible car crash.\u00a0 They missed a bend and hit a tree.\u00a0 The sister of a child known to my son was almost in that car \u2013 but courageously declined the ride.\u00a0 She knew the driver was compromised.\u00a0 That decision saved her life.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the searing truth caught others off guard.\u00a0 Drugged driving is death on wheels, period.\u00a0 Drug legalization is the unabashed promoter of that death.\u00a0 So, where are the shepherds?\u00a0 Where are the outspoken leaders, why silent?<\/span><\/p>\n

What child is this, who starts with marijuana, soon is addicted, ends overdosing on opiates or as a roadside cross?\u00a0 What child is this, who needed knowledge from someone they trusted \u2013 but got misinformation?\u00a0 What child is this, who is force-fed popular lies, that drug abuse is \u201crecreation?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And what child is this, \u201cgreeted by angels,\u201d who was forsaken here \u2013 by leaders for political advantage?\u00a0 \u201cLaid to rest\u201d by parents\u2019 inconsolable hands?\u00a0 Where were those leaders, a thoughtful president, governor, congressman, legislator, mayor?\u00a0 How could we, in a blink, give up 50,000 souls \u2013 this year, again?\u00a0 Silence is not just holy \u2013 it can also be complicit.\u00a0 Permitting legal expansion of drug abuse, legalized money laundering, an insidious tax grab, or turning a Federal blind eye \u2013 comes at the expense of young lives.\u00a0 That is the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Needed in this season of change are new national and community leaders, who are unafraid to say:\u00a0\u00a0 Do not compromise your future.\u00a0 Do not risk everything for nothing.\u00a0 Do not break faith with yourself, or those who are counting on you.\u00a0\u00a0 The mind wanders \u2026 from a Christmas carol to those not here to celebrate.\u00a0 To parents, siblings, friends and teachers sadly asking \u201cwhat if\u2026\u201d\u00a0 And bigger questions:\u00a0 What if the legalization pabulum and knowing disinformation were stopped?\u00a0 What if drugs sure to addict and kill were less available?\u00a0 What if policy indifference turned to saving young lives, not putting them at risk?<\/span><\/p>\n

Said Henry David Thoreau, every child is an \u201cempire.\u201d\u00a0 But today, these empires are falling fast.\u00a0 Risk is inherent in our indifference, disinformation, disregard for truth, and treating death as recreation.\u00a0 Addiction\u2019s darkness comes on so fast, too.\u00a0 A life soon narrows, ambitions die, dependence rises, users feel boxed in, relationships and functions are degraded, nightmares start, and then an awful and big question \u2013 who cares?<\/span><\/p>\n

These days, few seem to \u2013 not this President, Congress, many of our State \u201cleaders.\u201d\u00a0 They just go along.\u00a0 Meantime, more families are drained and left alone \u2013 victims of accelerating drug abuse, drugged driving, drug-related crime, and life-changing addiction.\u00a0 The Trump team has a chance:\u00a0 To say enough, this experiment is over.\u00a0 That would help American families stop grieving, save kids from this unparalleled dance with false information and societal indifference.\u00a0 That would be real leadership \u2013 and long overdue.\u00a0 So, pull the Drug Czar back up to Cabinet rank, put Federal resources and smart people into enforcing the law, and re-educate the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat child is this?\u201d\u00a0 It is America\u2019s child.\u00a0 With new hope and real leadership, may we have no more compromises with evil.\u00a0 Instead, truth spoken to power, power asserted by well-informed people.\u00a0 Let us stand watch, shepherds for young America.\u00a0 \u201cHaste, haste \u2026\u201d in this, and in all seasons.\u00a0 Here may be a resolution for the new year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement under George W. Bush, former Naval Intelligence Officer and litigator, who served in the Reagan and Bush 41 White Houses.\u00a0 He wrote the book \u201cNarcotics and Terrorism,\u201d and writes widely on national security and law.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: townhall.com\/columnists 10th December 2016<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Robert Charles The Christmas carol is poignant \u2013 reminder of Christmas, and beyond.\u00a0 \u201cWhat child is this, who, laid to rest \u2026\u201d the carol begins.\u00a0 \u201cWhom angels greet with anthems sweet, while shepherds watch are keeping?\u201d it continues.\u00a0 The stanza ends, \u201cHaste, haste \u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Lovely, lilting, full of promise \u2013 like the birth of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,14,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global-drug-legalisation-efforts","category-social-affairs","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}