{"id":17136,"date":"2024-04-23T18:03:37","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T17:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=17136"},"modified":"2024-09-22T17:43:28","modified_gmt":"2024-09-22T16:43:28","slug":"interview-with-u-s-drug-czar-john-walters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2024\/04\/interview-with-u-s-drug-czar-john-walters\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW WITH U.S. DRUG CZAR JOHN WALTERS"},"content":{"rendered":"

US DRUG CZAR EXPLAINS CAUSES AND RSDT TOOL <\/strong><\/span>TO PREVENT TEEN DRUG USE AND OVERDOSE DEATH<\/strong> INTERVIEW WITH U.S. DRUG CZAR JOHN WALTERS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Introduction:<\/strong>\u00a0 In response to recent news of a huge increase in drug overdose deaths<\/strong> and arrests for drug trafficking<\/strong> among Fairfax County youths, Fox News TV5 reporter Sherri Ly interviewed U.S. Drug Czar John Walters for his expert views on the cause and potential cure for these horrific family tragedies.\u00a0 Following is a transcript of that half-hour interview with minor editing for clarity and emphasis added. \u00a0The full original interview is available through the 11\/26\/08 Fox5 News broadcast video available at link<\/a>:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

WALTERS:\u00a0 Well, as this<\/em> case shows, while we\u2019ve had overall drug use go down, we still have too many young people losing their lives to drugs,<\/strong> either through overdoses, or addiction getting their lives off track.\u00a0 So there\u2019s a danger.\u00a0 We\u2019ve made progress, and we have tools in place that can help us make more progress, but we have to use them<\/u>.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Q 1:\u00a0 You meet with some of these parents whose children have overdosed.\u00a0 What do they tell you, and what do you tell them?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

WALTERS:\u00a0 It\u2019s the hardest part of my job; meeting with parents who\u2019ve lost a child.\u00a0 Obviously they would give anything to go back, and have a chance to pull that child back from the dangerous path they were on.\u00a0 There are no words that can ease their grief.\u00a0 That\u2019s something you just pray that God can give them comfort.\u00a0 But the most striking thing they say to me though is they want other parents to know, to act<\/u>.\u00a0 <\/strong>And I think this is a common thing that these terrible lessons should teach us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many times, unfortunately, parents see signs: a change in friends, sometimes they find drugs; sometimes they see their child must be intoxicated in some way or the other.\u00a0 Because it\u2019s so frightening, because sometimes they\u2019re ashamed \u2013 they hope it\u2019s a phase, they hope it goes away<\/strong> \u2013 they try to take some half measures.\u00a0 Sometimes they confront their child, and their child tells them \u2013 as believably as they ever can \u2013 that it\u2019s the first time.\u00a0 I think what we need help with is to tell people; one, it\u2019s never the first time.\u00a0 The probability is low that parents would actually recognize these signs \u2013 even when it gets visible enough to them \u2013 because children that get involved in drugs do everything they can to hide it.<\/strong>\u00a0 It\u2019s never the first time.\u00a0 It\u2019s never the second time.\u00a0 Parents need to act, and they need to act quickly. \u00a0And the sorrow of these grieving parents is, if anything, most frequently focused on telling other parents, \u201cDon\u2019t wait: do anything to get your child back from the drugs.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Secondly, I think it\u2019s important to remember that one of the forces that are at play here is that it\u2019s their friends.<\/strong>\u00a0 It\u2019s not some dark, off-putting stranger \u2013 it\u2019s boyfriends, girlfriends.<\/strong>\u00a0 I think that was probably a factor in this case.\u00a0 And it\u2019s also the power and addictive properties of the drug.<\/strong>\u00a0 So your love is now being tested, and the things you\u2019ve given your child to live by are being pulled away from them on the basis of young love and some of the<\/strong> most addictive substances on earth<\/strong>.\u00a0 That\u2019s why you have to act more strongly. \u00a0You can\u2019t count on the old forces to bring them back to safety and health.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Q 2:\u00a0 When we talk about heroin \u2013 which is what we saw in this Fairfax County drug ring, alleged drug ring \u2013 what are the risks, as far as heroin\u2019s concerned?\u00a0 I understand it can be more lethal, because a lot of people don\u2019t know what they\u2019re dealing with?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

WALTERS:\u00a0 Well it\u2019s also more lethal because one, the drug obviously can produce cardiac and respiratory arrest.\u00a0 It\u2019s a toxic substance that is very dangerous.\u00a0 It\u2019s also the case that narcotics, like heroin \u2013 even painkillers like OxyContin, hydrocodone, which have also been a problem \u2013 are something that the human body gets used to.\u00a0 So what you can frequently get on the street is a purity that is really blended for people who are addicted and have been long time addicted.\u00a0 So a person who is a new user or a na\u00efve user can more easily be overdosed, because the quantities are made for people whose bodies have adjusted to higher purities, and are seeking that effect that only the higher purity will give them in this circumstance.\u00a0 So it\u2019s particularly dangerous for new users.\u00a0 But we also have to remember, it almost never starts with heroin.\u00a0 <\/strong>Heroin is the culmination here.\u00a0 I think some of the \u2013 and I\u2019ve only seen press stories on this — some of these young people may have gotten involved as early as middle school.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We have tools so that we don\u2019t have to lose another young woman like this– or young men. <\/strong>\u00a0We now have the ability to use Random Student Drug Testing (RSDT)<\/strong> because the Supreme Court has, in the last five years, made a decision that says it can\u2019t be used to punish.\u00a0 It\u2019s used confidentially with parents.\u00a0 We have thousands of schools now doing it since the president announced the federal government\u2019s willingness to fund these programs in 2004.\u00a0 And many schools are doing it on their own.\u00a0 Random testing can do for our children what it\u2019s done in the military, what it\u2019s done in the transportation safety industry– significantly reduce drug use.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

First, it is a powerful reason not to start.<\/strong>\u00a0 \u201cI get tested, I don\u2019t have to start<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 We have to remember, it\u2019s for prevention and not a \u201cgotcha!\u201d\u00a0 But it\u2019s a powerful reason for kids to say, even when a boyfriend or girlfriend says come and do this with me, \u201cI can\u2019t do it, I get tested. \u00a0I still like you, I still want to be your friend; I still want you to like me, but I just can\u2019t do this,<\/em>\u201d which is very, very powerful and important.\u00a0 And second, if drug use is detected the child can be referred to treatment if needed.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Q 3:\u00a0 Is the peer pressure just that much that without having an excuse, that kids are using drugs and getting hooked<\/em>?<\/span><\/p>\n

WALTERS:\u00a0 Well one of the other unpleasant parts of my job is I visit a lot of young people in treatment; teenagers, sometimes as young as 14, 15, but also 16, 17, 18.\u00a0 It is not uncommon for me to hear from them, \u201cI came from a good family.\u00a0 My parents and my school made clear what the dangers were of drugs.\u00a0 I was stupid.\u00a0 I was with my boyfriend (or girlfriend) and somebody said hey, let\u2019s go do this.\u00a0 And I started, and before I knew it, I was more susceptible.<\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

We have to also understand the science<\/strong>, which has told us that adolescents continue to have brain development up through age 20-25.<\/strong>\u00a0 And their brains are more susceptible to changes that we can now image from these drugs.\u00a0 So it\u2019s not like they\u2019re mini-adults.\u00a0 They\u2019re not mini-adults.\u00a0 They\u2019re the particularly fragile and susceptible age group, because they don\u2019t have either the experience or the mental development of adults.\u00a0 <\/strong>That\u2019s why they get into trouble, that\u2019s why it happens so fast to them, that\u2019s why it\u2019s so hard for them to see the ramifications.<\/span><\/p>\n

So what does RSDT do?\u00a0 It finds kids early<\/strong>–\u00ad if prevention fails.\u00a0 And it allows us to intervene, and<\/strong> it doesn\u2019t make the parent alone in the process.<\/strong>\u00a0 Sometimes parents don\u2019t confront kids because kids blackmail them and say \u201cI\u2019m going to do it anyway, I\u2019m going to run away from home.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 The testing brings the community together and says we\u2019re not going to lose another child.<\/strong>\u00a0 We\u2019re going to do the testing in high school \u2013 if necessary, in middle school.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to wrap our community arms around that family, and get those children help.\u00a0 <\/strong>We\u2019re going to keep them in school, not wait for them to drop out.\u00a0 And we\u2019re certainly not going to allow this to progress until they die.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q 4:\u00a0 And in a sense, if you catch somebody early, since you\u2019re saying the way teenagers seem to get into drug use is a friend introduces it to a friend, and then next thing you know, you have a whole circle of friends doing it.\u00a0 Are you essentially drying that up at the beginning, before it gets out of hand?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

WALTERS:\u00a0 That is the very critical point.\u00a0 It\u2019s not only helping every child that gets tested be safer, it means that<\/strong> the number of young people in the peer group, in the school, in the community that can transfer this dangerous behavior to their friends shrinks.<\/strong>\u00a0 This is communicated like a disease,<\/strong> except it\u2019s not a germ or a bacillus.\u00a0 It\u2019s one child who\u2019s doing this giving it behaviorally to their friends, and using their friendship as the poison carrier here.\u00a0 It\u2019s like they\u2019re the apple and the poison is inside the apple.\u00a0 And they trade on their friendship to get them to use.\u00a0 They trade on the fact that people want acceptance, especially at the age of adolescence.\u00a0 So what you do is you break that down, and you make those relationships less prone to have the poison of drugs or even underage drinking linked to them.\u00a0 And of course we also lose a lot of kids because of impaired driving.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Q 5:\u00a0 And how does the drug testing program work, then, in schools– the schools that do have it.\u00a0 Is it completely confidential?\u00a0 Are you going to call the police the minute you find a student who\u2019s tested positive for heroin or marijuana or any other illicit drug?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

WALTERS:\u00a0 That\u2019s what is great about having a Supreme Court decision.\u00a0 It is settled \u2013<\/strong> random testing programs cannot be used to punish, to call law enforcement; they have to be confidential.<\/strong>\u00a0 So we have a uniform law across the land.\u00a0 And what the schools that are doing RSDT are seeing is that it\u2019s an enormous benefit to schools for a relatively small cost.<\/strong>\u00a0 Depending on where you are in the country, the screening test is $10-40.\u00a0 It\u2019s less than what you\u2019re going to pay for music downloads in one month for most teenage kids in most parents\u2019 lives.\u00a0 And it protects them from some of the worst things that can happen to them during adolescence.\u00a0 Not only dying behind the wheel, but overdose death and addiction.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Schools that have done RSDT have faced some controversy; so you have to sit down and talk to people; parents, the media, young people.\u00a0 You have to engage the community resources.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to find some kids and families that do have treatment needs.\u00a0 But with RSDT you bring the needed treatment to the kids.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I tell, a lot of times, community leaders \u2013 mayors and superintendents, school board members \u2013 that if you want to send less kids into the criminal justice system and the juvenile justice system, drug test<\/strong> — whether you\u2019re in a suburban area or in an urban area.<\/span><\/p>\n

What does the testing do?\u00a0 It takes away what we know is an accelerant to self-destructive behavior: crime, fighting in school, bringing a weapon, joining a gang.<\/strong>\u00a0 We have all kinds of irrefutable evidence now \u2013 multiple studies showing drugs and drinking at a young age accelerate those things, make them worse, make them more violent, as well as increasing their risks of overdose deaths and driving under the influence.<\/strong>\u00a0 So drug testing makes all those things get better.\u00a0 And it\u2019s a small investment to make everything else we do work better.<\/span><\/p>\n

Again, drug testing is not a substitute for drug education or good parenting or paying attention to healthy options for your kid.\u00a0 It just makes all those things work better.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Q 6:\u00a0 And I know you\u2019ve heard this argument before, but isn\u2019t that big brother?\u00a0 Aren\u2019t there parents out there who say to you, \u201cI\u2019m the parent: why are you going to test my child for drugs in school; that\u2019s my job?\u201d\u00a0 <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

WALTERS:\u00a0 I think that is the critical misunderstanding that we are slowly beginning to change by the science that tells us substance abuse is a disease.<\/strong>\u00a0 It\u2019s a disease that gets started by using the drug, and then it becomes a thing that rewires our brain and makes us dependent.\u00a0 So instead of thinking of this as something that is a moral failing, we have to understand that this is a disease that we can use the kind of tools for public health \u2013 screening and interventions \u2013 to help reduce it.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Look, let me give you the counter example.\u00a0 It\u2019s really not big brother.\u00a0 It\u2019s more like tuberculosis.\u00a0 Schools in our area require children to be tested for tuberculosis before they come to school.\u00a0 Why do they do that?\u00a0 Because we know one, they will get sicker if they have tuberculosis and it\u2019s not treated.\u00a0 And we can treat them, and we want to treat them.\u00a0 And two, they will spread that disease to other children because of the nature of the contact they will have with them and spreading the infectious agent.\u00a0 The same thing happens with substance abuse.\u00a0 Young people get sicker if they continue to use.\u00a0 And they spread this to their peers.<\/strong>\u00a0 They\u2019re not secretive among their peers about it; they encourage them to use them with them.\u00a0 Again, it\u2019s not spread by a bacillus, but it\u2019s spread by behavior.<\/span><\/p>\n

If we take seriously the fact that this is a disease<\/u> and stop thinking of it as something big brother does because it\u2019s a moral decision that somebody else is making, we can save more lives.\u00a0 <\/strong>And I think the science is slowly telling us that we need to be able to treat this in our families, for adults and young people.\u00a0 We have public health tools that we\u2019ve used for other diseases that are very powerful here, like screening \u2013 and that\u2019s really what the random testing is<\/u>.<\/strong>\u00a0 We\u2019re trying to get more screening in the health care system.\u00a0 So when you get a check up, when you bring your child to a pediatrician, we screen for substance abuse and underage drinking.\u00a0 Because we know we can treat this, and we know that we can make the whole problem smaller when we do.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Q 7:\u00a0 You have said there were about 4,000 schools across the country now that are doing this random drug testing.\u00a0 What can we see in the numbers since the Supreme Court ruling in 2002, as far as drug use in those schools, and drug use in the general population?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

WALTERS:\u00a0 Well, what a number of those schools have had is of course a look at the harm from student drug and alcohol use.\u00a0 Some of them have put screening into place, random testing, because they\u2019ve had a terrible accident; an overdose death; death behind the wheel.\u00a0 What\u2019s great is when school districts do this, or individual schools do this, without having to have a tragedy that triggers it.\u00a0 But if you have a tragedy, I like to tell people, you don\u2019t have to have another one. <\/strong>\u00a0The horrible thing about a tragic event is that most people realize those are not the only kids that are at risk<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are more kids at risk, obviously, in our communities in the Washington, DC area where this young woman died.\u00a0 We know there\u2019s obviously more children who are at risk of using in middle school and high school.\u00a0 <\/strong>The fact is those children don\u2019t have to die.\u00a0 We cannot bring this young lady back.\u00a0 Everybody knows that.\u00a0 But we can make sure others don\u2019t follow her.\u00a0 And the way we can do that is to find, through screening, who\u2019s really using.\u00a0 And then let\u2019s get them to stop \u2013 let\u2019s work with their families, and let\u2019s make sure we don\u2019t start another generation of death.<\/strong>\u00a0 So what you see in these areas is an opportunity to really change the dynamic for the better.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q 8:\u00a0 Now, although nationally drug use among our youth is going down \u2013 what does it say to you \u2013 when I look at the numbers specific to Virginia, the most recent that I could find tells me that 3% of 12th graders, over their lifetime, have used a drug like heroin?\u00a0 What does it say to you?\u00a0 To me, that sounds like a lot.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

WALTERS:\u00a0 Yeah, and it\u2019s absolutely true.\u00a0 I think the problem here is that when you tell people we are taking efforts that are making progress nationwide, they jump to the conclusion that that means that we don\u2019t have a problem anymore.\u00a0 We need to continue to make this disease smaller.\u00a0 It afflicts our young people.\u00a0 It obviously also afflicts adults, but this is a problem that starts during adolescence — and pre-adolescence in some cases —<\/u> in the United States.<\/strong>\u00a0 We can make this smaller.\u00a0 We not only have the tools of better prevention but also better awareness and more recognition of addiction as a disease.\u00a0 We need to make that still broader.\u00a0 We need to use random testing.<\/strong>\u00a0 If we want to continue to make this smaller, and make it smaller in a permanent way, random testing is the most powerful tool we can use in schools<\/u>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We want screening in the health care system.<\/strong>\u00a0 We have more of that going on through both insurance company reimbursement and public reimbursement through Medicare and Medicaid for those who come into the public pay system.\u00a0 That needs to grow.\u00a0 It needs to grow into Virginia, it\u2019s already being looked at in DC; it needs to grow into Maryland and the other states that don\u2019t have it.\u00a0 We are pushing that, and it\u2019s relatively new, but it\u2019s consistent with what we\u2019re seeing \u2013 the science and the power of screening across the board.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We need to continue to look at this problem in terms of also continuing to push on supply.\u00a0 We\u2019re working to reduce the poisons coming into our communities, which is not the opposite of demand; that we have to choose one or the other.\u00a0 They work together.\u00a0 Keeping kids away from drugs and keeping drugs away from kids work together.<\/strong>\u00a0 And where we see that working more effectively, we\u2019ll save more lives.\u00a0 So again, we\u2019ve seen that a balanced approached works, real efforts work, but we need to follow through.\u00a0 And the fact that you still have too many kids at risk is an urgent need<\/u>.<\/strong>\u00a0 Today, you have kids that could be, again, victims that you have to unfortunately tell about on tonight\u2019s news, that we can save.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a matter we don\u2019t know how to do this.\u00a0 It\u2019s a matter of we need to take what we know and make it reality as rapidly as possible.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Q 9:\u00a0 Where are these drugs coming from?\u00a0 Where\u2019s the heroin that these kids allegedly got coming from?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

WALTERS:\u00a0 We do testing about the drugs to figure out sources for drugs like heroin.\u00a0 Principally, the heroin in the United States today has come from two sources.\u00a0 Less of it\u2019s coming out of Colombia.\u00a0 Colombia used to be a source of supply on the East Coast, but the Colombian government, as a part of our engagement with them on drugs, has radically reduced the cultivation of poppy and the output of heroin.\u00a0 There still is some, but it\u2019s dramatically down from what it was even about five years ago.\u00a0 Most of the rest of the heroin in the United States comes from Mexico.\u00a0 And the Mexican government, of course, is engaged in a historic effort to attack the cartels.\u00a0 You see this in the violence the cartels have had as a reaction.\u00a0 So we have promising signs.\u00a0 There are dangerous and difficult tasks ahead, but we can follow through on that as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the heroin in the world comes from Afghanistan; 90% of it.\u00a0 And we are working there, of course, as a part of our effort against the Taliban and the forces of terror and Al Qaeda, to shrink that.\u00a0 The good news is that last year we had a 20% decline in cultivation and a 30% decline in output there.\u00a0 Most of that does not come here, fortunately.\u00a0 But it has been funding the terrorists.\u00a0 It\u2019s been drained out of most of the north and the east of the country.\u00a0 It\u2019s focused on the area where we have the greatest violence today, in the southwest.\u00a0 We\u2019re working now \u2013 you see Secretary Gates talking to the NATO allies about bringing the counter-insurgency effort together with the counter-narcotics effort to attack both of these cancers in Afghanistan.\u00a0 We have a chance to change heroin availability in the world in a durable way by being successful in Afghanistan.\u00a0 We\u2019ve started that path in a positive way.\u00a0 Again, it\u2019s a matter of following through as rapidly as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q 10:\u00a0 Greg Lannes, the father of the girl in Fairfax County who died, told me that one of his main efforts, as you imagined, was to let people know that those drugs, they\u2019re coming from where it is produced, outside our country; that they\u2019re getting all the way down to the street level and into our neighborhoods– something that people don\u2019t realize.\u00a0 So when you hear that they busted a ring of essentially teenagers who have been dealing, using and buying heroin, what does that say to you as the man in charge of combating drugs in our country?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

WALTERS:\u00a0 Well again, we have tools that can make this smaller.\u00a0 But we have to use those tools.<\/strong>\u00a0 And we have multiple participants here.\u00a0 Yes we need to educate.\u00a0 And we need to make sure that parents know they need to talk to their children, even when their children look healthy and have come from a great home.\u00a0 Drugs \u2013 we\u2019ve learned, I think, over the last 25 years or more, drugs affect everybody; rich or poor, middle class, lower class or upper class.\u00a0 Every family\u2019s been touched by this, in my experience, by alcohol or drugs.<\/strong>\u00a0 They know that reality– we don\u2019t need to teach them that.<\/span><\/p>\n

What we need to teach them is the tools that we have that they can help accelerate use of.\u00a0 Again, I think \u2013 there is no question in my mind that had this young woman been in a school, middle school or high school that had random testing \u2013 since that\u2019s where this apparently started, based on the information I\u2019ve seen in the press \u2013 she would not be dead today.<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0 So again, we can\u2019t go back and bring her to life.\u00a0 But we can put into place the kind of screening<\/strong> that makes the good will and obvious love that she got from her parents, the obvious good intentions that I can\u2019t help but believe were a part of what happened in the school, the opportunities that the community has to have a lot of resources that she didn\u2019t get when she needed them.\u00a0 And now she\u2019s dead.\u00a0 Again, we can stop this: we just have to make sure we implement that knowledge in the reality of more of our kids as fast as possible.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Q 11:\u00a0 Should anyone be surprised by this case?\u00a0 And that such a hardcore drug like heroin is being used by young people?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

WALTERS:\u00a0 We should never stop being surprised when a young person dies.\u00a0 They shouldn\u2019t die.\u00a0 They shouldn\u2019t die at that young age, and we should always demand of ourselves, even while we know that\u2019s sometimes going to happen today, that every death is a death too many.\u00a0 I think that it is very important not to say we\u2019re going to accept a certain level.\u00a0 Never accept this.\u00a0 Never!\u00a0 That\u2019s my attitude, and I know that\u2019s the president\u2019s \u00a0attitude as well here.\u00a0 Never accept that heroin\u2019s going to get into the lives of our teenagers.\u00a0 Never accept that our children are going to be able to use and not be protected.\u00a0 It\u2019s our job to protect them<\/u>.\u00a0 <\/strong>They have a role, also, obviously in helping to protect themselves.\u00a0 But we need to give them the tools that will help protect them<\/u>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

When I talk to children and young adults in high school or college, they know what\u2019s going on among their peers.\u00a0 And in some ways, when you get them alone and they feel they can talk candidly, they tell us they don\u2019t understand why we, as adults who say this is serious, don\u2019t act.<\/strong>\u00a0 They know that we see children who are intoxicated; they know that we must see signs of this, because as kid\u2019s lives get more out of control, they show signs of it.\u00a0 They want to know why we don\u2019t act<\/u>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We can use the tools of screening, and we can use the occasion of a horrible event like this to bring the community together and say it\u2019s time for us to use the shock and the sorrow for something positive in the future. <\/strong>\u00a0I haven\u2019t met a parent of a child who\u2019s been lost who doesn\u2019t say I just want to use this now for something positive.\u00a0 And that\u2019s understandable, and I think we ought to honor that wish.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q 12:\u00a0 Well, I guess I\u2019m not asking should we accept that this is in our schools, but is it na\u00efve for people not to understand or realize that these hardcore drugs are in our schools, and in our communities, and in our neighborhoods.\u00a0 <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

WALTERS:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 Where it is na\u00efve, I think, is to not recognize the extent and access that young people have to drugs and alcohol.<\/strong>\u00a0 I think we sometimes think that because they come from a home where this isn\u2019t a part of their lives now, that it\u2019s not ever going to be part of their lives.\u00a0 Look, your viewers should go on the computer.\u00a0 Type marijuana into the Google search engine and see how many sites encourage them to use marijuana, how to get marijuana, how to grow marijuana, the great fun of marijuana.<\/strong>\u00a0 Go on YouTube and type in marijuana, and see how many videos come up using marijuana, joking around about marijuana.\u00a0 And then when you start showing one, of course the system is designed to show you similar things.\u00a0 Type in heroin.\u00a0 See what kind of sites come up, and see what kind of videos come up on these sites.\u00a0 Young people spend more time on these sites than they do, frequently, watching television.\u00a0 Remember, there is somebody telling your children things about drugs.\u00a0 <\/strong>And if it\u2019s not you, the chances are they\u2019re telling them things that are false and dangerous<\/u>.<\/strong>\u00a0 So there is a kind of naivet\u00e9 about what the young peoples\u2019 world, as it presents itself to them, tells them about these substances.\u00a0 It minimizes the danger,<\/u> <\/strong>it suggests that it\u2019s something that you can do to be more independent, not be a kid anymore.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We, from my generation — because I\u2019m a baby boomer — unfortunately have had an association of growing up in America with the rebellion that\u2019s been associated with drug use.\u00a0 That\u2019s been very dangerous, and we\u2019ve lost a lot of lives<\/strong>.\u00a0 We have to remember that it\u2019s alive and well, and has become part of the technological sources of information that young people have.\u00a0 I also see young people in treatment centers who got in a chat room and somebody offered them drugs or offered them to come and buy them alcohol and flattered them, and got them involved in incredibly self-destructive behavior. \u00a0The computer brings every predator and every dangerous influence into your own child\u2019s home \u2013 into their bedroom in some cases, if that\u2019s where that computer exists.\u00a0 <\/strong>You wouldn\u2019t let your kids go out and play in the park with drug dealers. \u00a0If you have a computer and it\u2019s not supervised, those drug dealers are in that computer.\u00a0 Remember that.\u00a0 And they\u2019re only a couple of keystrokes away from your child<\/u><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q 13:\u00a0 And you talk about the YouTube and the computers and all those things.\u00a0 What about just the overall societal image?\u00a0 Because we have this whole image with heroin, of heroin chic.\u00a0 How much does that contribute to the drug use, and how difficult does it make your job, when a drug is being made out to be cool in society by famous people<\/em>?<\/span><\/p>\n

WALTERS:\u00a0 There are still some elements of that.\u00a0 It was more prominent a number of years ago.\u00a0 I would say you see less of that now glamorized in the entertainment industry, or among people who are celebrities in and out of entertainment.\u00a0 You see more cases of real harm.\u00a0 But it\u2019s still out there.\u00a0 The one place that I think is replacing that, just to get people ahead of the game here, is prescription pharmaceuticals.\u00a0 Those have been marketed to kids on the internet as a safe high<\/u>.<\/strong>\u00a0 They falsely suggest that you can overcome the danger of an overdose because you can predict precisely the dosage of OxyContin, hydrocodone, Vicodin.\u00a0 And there are sites that suggest what combination of drugs to use.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen prescription drug use as the one counter example of a category of drug use going up among teens.<\/strong>\u00a0 We\u2019re trying to work on that as well, but that\u2019s something that\u2019s in your own home, because many people get these substances for legitimate medical care.\u00a0 Young people are going to the medicine cabinet of family or friends, taking a few pills out and using those.\u00a0 And those are as powerful as heroin, they\u2019re synthetic opioids, and they have been a source of overdose deaths.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

So let\u2019s not forget \u2013 while this Fairfax example reminds us of the issues of heroin chic and of the heroin that\u2019s in our communities, the new large problem today is a similar dangerous substance in pill form in our own medicine cabinets.<\/strong>\u00a0 Barrier to access is zero.<\/strong>\u00a0 They don\u2019t have to find a drug dealer; they just go find the medicine cabinet.\u00a0 They don\u2019t have to pay a dime for it because they just take it and they share that with their friends.\u00a0 We need to remember, that\u2019s another dimension here.\u00a0 Keep these substances out of reach \u2013 under our control when we have them in our home.\u00a0 Throw them away when we\u2019re done with them.\u00a0 Make sure we talk to kids about pills.\u00a0 Because people, again, are telling them that\u2019s the place to go to avoid overdose death, is to take a pill.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Q 14:\u00a0 When you see a lot of these celebrities checking in and out of rehab, does it sort of glamorize it for kids?\u00a0 And teach them hey, you can use, you can check into rehab, you can come back, you can \u2013 you know.\u00a0 Is there a mixed message there?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

WALTERS:\u00a0 There is.\u00a0 Some young people interpret it the way you describe; of it\u2019s something you do and you can<\/strong> get away with it by going into rehab.\u00a0 <\/strong>We do a lot of research on young people\u2019s attitudes for purposes of helping shape prevention programs in the media, as well as in schools and for parents.\u00a0 We do a lot with providing material to parents.\u00a0 I would say that compared to where we\u2019ve been in the last 15 or 20 years, there\u2019s less glamorization today.<\/span><\/p>\n

I think we should also remember the positive, because we reinforce that.\u00a0 A lot of young people \u2013 obviously not all or we wouldn\u2019t have this death \u2013 believe that taking drugs makes you a loser.\u00a0 They\u2019ve seen that a lot of those celebrities are showing their careers going down the toilet because they can\u2019t get away from the pills and the drugs and the alcohol.\u00a0 And I think they see that even among some of their peers.\u00a0 That\u2019s a good thing.<\/strong>\u00a0 We should reinforce that as parents: teaching our kids that drug and alcohol use may be falsely presented to you as something you do that would make you popular, make you seem like you should have more status in society generally.\u00a0 But actually, look at a lot of these people; they\u2019ve had enormous opportunities, enormous gifts, and they can\u2019t stop themselves from throwing them away.\u00a0 And they may not stop themselves from throwing away their lives.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I think you could use these events as a teachable moment.\u00a0 It can go two ways.\u00a0 Help your child understand what the truth is here.\u00a0 And I tell young people \u2013 and I think parents have to start this more directly \u2013 this is the way this is going to come to you:\u00a0 Somebody you really, really want to like you; somebody you really, really like; someone you may even love — or think you love — they\u2019re going to say come and do this with me.<\/strong>\u00a0 If you can\u2019t find any other reason to not do this with them, say, \u201cBefore we do this, let\u2019s go to a treatment center.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go talk to people who stood where we stood and said it\u2019s not going to happen to me.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 If everybody, when they got the chance to start, thought of an addict or somebody who was dead, they wouldn\u2019t start.\u00a0 The fact is that does not enter their mind.\u00a0 <\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Many people in treatment centers understand that part of the task of recovery is helping other people avoid this.\u00a0 So they\u2019re willing to talk about it.\u00a0 In fact, that\u2019s part of their path of staying clean and sober, which not many kids are going to be able to do on their own.\u00a0 But it makes them think that what presents itself as something overwhelmingly attractive has behind it a horrible dimension, for their friends as well as for themselves. <\/strong>\u00a0And more and more, I think kids understand this.<\/span><\/p>\n

We can use the science of this as a disease<\/strong>, and the experience of many families.\u00a0 Remember, uncle Joe didn\u2019t used to be like this.\u00a0 Especially Thanksgiving, when we have families getting together and all of a sudden mom\u2019s going to get loaded and become ugly in the corner.\u00a0 We also have to remember we have an obligation to reach out to those people, and to get them help.\u00a0 We can treat them.\u00a0 Nobody gets sober, in my experience, by themselves.\u00a0 They have to take responsibility.\u00a0 But you have to overcome the pushback, and addiction and alcoholism have, as a part of the disease, denial.\u00a0 When you tell somebody they have a problem, they get angry with you.<\/strong>\u00a0 They don\u2019t say hey thanks, I want your help.\u00a0 They don\u2019t hit bottom and become nice.\u00a0 That\u2019s a myth.\u00a0 They need to be grabbed and encouraged and pushed.\u00a0 Almost everybody in treatment is coerced \u2013 by a family member, by an employer, sometimes by the criminal justice system<\/u>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

So remember that, when you find your child using and they want to lie to you up down and sideways saying, \u201cIt\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve ever done it.\u201d \u00a0No, no, no, no, no, that\u2019s the drugs talking.<\/strong>\u00a0 That shows you, if anything, you have a bigger problem than you realized and you need to reach out, get some professional help.\u00a0 But don\u2019t wait!<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 National Institute of Citizen Anti-drug Policy (NICAP)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

DeForest Rathbone, Chairman, Great Falls, Virginia, 703-759-2215, DZR@prodigy.net<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US DRUG CZAR EXPLAINS CAUSES AND RSDT TOOL TO PREVENT TEEN DRUG USE AND OVERDOSE DEATH INTERVIEW WITH U.S. DRUG CZAR JOHN WALTERS Introduction:\u00a0 In response to recent news of a huge increase in drug overdose deaths and arrests for drug trafficking among Fairfax County youths, Fox News TV5 reporter Sherri Ly interviewed U.S. Drug […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,63,30,32,68,62,10,11,34,75,104,86,40,14,92,36,19,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alcohol","category-brain-and-behaviour","category-cannabis-marijuana","category-crime-violence-prison","category-drug-use-various-effects","category-education","category-education-sector","category-effects-of-drugs","category-heroin-methadone","category-internet","category-political-sector","category-prescription-drugs","category-prevention-research","category-social-affairs","category-synthetics","category-treatment-addiction","category-usa","category-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17136","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}