I firmly believe that the problem in the US regarding how we handle drugs in the US is that it is so focused on Shame. Same with how we do sex ed and many other things.
We shame it so much, that when you have questions or you start thinking about it, you don't have people who you can go to and ask questions without judgement or being preached at.
And then of course once you do try something, it is criminalized so you can't go talk to someone to get help without being worried about going to Jail (depending on where you are).
It also doesn't help that so many of these systems love to talk about how Pot is just as bad as every other drug, which of course it isn't.
I feel like we need more of a focus on compassion instead of just beating us over the head with "Drugs are Bad mkay" so of course we are going to rebel against adults telling us this. Especially when we know we can't have alcohol but they can, so are they telling the truth about drugs?
Same with Smoking. The message gets mixed up when we are being told all these things that we shouldn't do but adults are able to do some of them.
We shame it so much, that when you have questions or you start thinking about it, you don't have people who you can go to and ask questions without judgement or being preached at.
And then of course once you do try something, it is criminalized so you can't go talk to someone to get help without being worried about going to Jail (depending on where you are).
It also doesn't help that so many of these systems love to talk about how Pot is just as bad as every other drug, which of course it isn't.
I feel like we need more of a focus on compassion instead of just beating us over the head with "Drugs are Bad mkay" so of course we are going to rebel against adults telling us this. Especially when we know we can't have alcohol but they can, so are they telling the truth about drugs?
Same with Smoking. The message gets mixed up when we are being told all these things that we shouldn't do but adults are able to do some of them.