Just say NO to Drugs

                         The National Drug Debate

                            W. HARDY DAVIS, 32
                 Psychologist, Texas Department of Health
    Public Health Region 1, 1212 East Anderson Lane, Austin, TX  78752


   "Drug Czar" William Bennett and his efforts at enforcement of
the nation's drug laws and interdiction of illegal drugs as they
enter the United States have been constant sources of personal and
public discussions, media articles and editorial comments as well
as pronouncements by famous (and perhaps infamous) personages here
and abroad.

   While the thrust of the government's program for children has
been education and a "just say no" campaign, unfortunately, there
have been counterproductive events such as Federal Judge Robert
W. Sweet of New York, former Secretary of State George Shultz and
Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman issuing statements advocating the
legalization of what are now illegal drugs.  Another recent
counterproductive event of note was the arrest of Mayor Marion
Barry of Washington, D.C., charged with possession of crack
cocaine.

   These are double standards, double messages to the citizens and
especially to the youth of our nation...double messages they don't
know how to interpret or follow.  Especially in the case of Mayor
Barry whose continuing exhortation to the youth of his city was to
"just say no," his example is devastating and almost irreparable.
Children in that city, interviewed in the wake of his arrest,
used such words as "hypocrite" and "shame."

  A recent nationwide poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times
revealed that one-third of Americans favor legalization of drugs,
but most support for legalization comes from "young people" who
have not witnessed the ruined lives and fortunes of drug users.  I
fear that this is because the severity of drug destruction to the
lives of drug users has not been personally witnessed or
experienced by those polled; they need to see it for themselves to
believe it.

  A study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Associa-
tion of persons killed in New York City traffic accidents revealed
the 18.2% had used cocaine within 48 hours of the accident.
Further, 56% of the drivers had used cocaine, alcohol or both.

   Current news in all the media has reported an upsurge of inhal-
ant abuse and, sadly, consequent deaths principally of teenagers.
Probably few parents are aware of all the possible lethal inhalants
around the house: gasoline for the lawn mower, kitchen aerosol
antistick preparations, airplane glue or spray paint (gold is the
favorite color) for the hobby room, dad's typewriter correction
fluid, mom's or the teenager's own aerosol hair spray and others.
Few people realize that all these "legal" everyday products
become "illegal" when used for other than their intended purposes.

   For over two years as staff psychologist on the chemical abuse
unit of Kerrville State Hospital, I had occasion to assess and pre-
scribe treatment for many youngsters who should have been at-
tending junior and high schools of their communities.  By far the
most difficult to treat and educate to remain abstinent after
hospital discharge were the inhalant abusers.  None could
adequately describe their feelings as regarded their "need" for
"huffing."  It was some kind of ineffable craving which overtook
them when they tried their best to abstain.  It was something they
couldn't tell their parents about; it was something they lacked the
words to portray to me or any other member of the staff.  In group
therapy, they could not for the life of them tell their peers what
the "huffing" did for them.

  Obviously, inhalants were something those kids should never
have tried the first time.  It was true that even in the middle of
last year as the craze for "huffing" grew by leaps and bounds, most
of the patients were being treated for other, more traditional
drugs such as cocaine, heroin, marijuana, methamphetamines (speed),
PCP (angel dust), alcohol (a depressant drug) and the like, but the
mean age of the patients was dropping rapidly.

  And the average cost for the usual 30-day treatment stay was
about $3,300 to the citizens of Texas, even in a cost-conscious
facility like Kerrville State Hospital.

   The proponents of drug legalization, utilizing their arguments
regarding the demise of the drug lords, the return of drug dealers
to legal career pursuits and their removal from the streets as role
models, the waning power of the mafia, and the reduction in the
number of robberies and burglaries for money with which to buy
high-priced "illegal" drugs, have overlooked a paramount conse-
quence of legalization.  That consequence is the INEVITABLE in-
crease in the number of drug addicts!

   When the Volstead Act, which prohibited the importation, manu-
facture or sale of alcohol (enacted 1919), was repealed in 1933,
the incidence of alcoholism did not diminish but steadily increased
to its present abominably unacceptable level.  Alcohol treatment
centers have proliferated, alcoholrelated deaths have taken on
astronomical proportions, alcoholrelated absenteeism has cost
the nation billions in lost productivity, alcohol related health
treatment costs have spiraled out of sight, alcohol-related crime
in general constitutes 50% of our prison populations, and even the
national liquor and beer manufacturing and distributing industries
have begun to voice alarm and to issue warnings regarding
over-consumption of their products and consequential
alcoholism.  Legislators and courts are focusing their attention
on alcohol-related crimes. Alarmingly, other drug-engendered crimes
are in hot pursuit of alcohol's unenviable records.

   Why would any thinking person believe that the legalization of
drugs in this nation will produce anything less than a nation of
addicts, given enough time?  And I don't happen to believe that it
will take THAT MUCH time, considering the addictive nature of
illegal drugs (that is why they were made illegal in the first
place, remember?).

  And the cost?  The recent debacle of the savings and loan
industry bailout will look like peanuts compared to what it will
cost to treat the addictive, non-productive, physically ill
societal dropout products of drug legalization.

  It's important never to forget, however, that education of our
children begins in the home with the primary role models being the
child's caretakers; moral tenets, behavioral concepts and daily
judgments are formed at early, impressionable ages IN THE HOME.
The destructive consequences of drug abuse, including, of course,
alcoholism, must be taught early on at home.

 And that's where Masonry comes in.

 We Masons have to set the proper example for our children and even
our children's friends by living the principles and tenets of what
we have learned in the Craft as well as in life's experiences.
DeMolay is the perfect means by which to teach young men, perhaps
those at risk of drug abuse, the principles by which we in Masonry
conduct our lives, the moral and behavioral precepts by which
upright, honorable men conduct their interpersonal relationships
and respect God's laws. I fear that too many of us allow others to
portray to our children how to live.  It should be obvious to us
all from recent media events and some of the programming on
television that not all of the others have our children's best
interests at heart.

  The last word is that we CANNOT afford to have our nation's
future in the hands of drug addicts twenty to thirty years from
now.

  WE CANNOT AFFORD TO HAVE DRUGS LEGALIZED!

Current news in all the media has reported an upsurge of inhalant
abuse and, sadly, consequent deaths of principally teenagers.
Probably few parents are aware of all the possible lethal inhalants
around the house.

A paramount consequence of drug legalization is the INEVITABLE
increase in the number of drug addicts!

The recent debacle of the savings and loan industry bailout will
look like peanuts compared to what it will cost to treat the
addictive, nonproductive, physically ill societal dropout
products of drug legalization.


A psychologist with experience in both private and public sectors,
Brother Davis is a member of Isis Lodge No. 406, Metairie,
Louisiana; the Scottish Rite Bodies of New Orleans, Louisiana; and
Ben Hur Shrine Temple, Austin, Texas.


