A Practical Look at Prohibition and the War on Drugs

The lives of our loved ones depend on a practical, effective approach to ending drug and alcohol abuse.

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What do prohibition and the war on drugs have in common?  Both concepts were promoted by people who meant well, but had one common fatal flaw.  The benefit of 20/20 hindsight, which allows us to see and hopefully learn to do better.

First, let’s take a look at the theory behind both of these ideas.  In the business world (No I am not a business major nor do I own my own business) there is this thing called “supply and demand.”  So what does this mean?  Quite simply (And I like boiling things down to very simple terms) if society has a demand for a product, business will supply this product. In this case, the aforementioned products are drugs and alcohol.

If this so-called, “product,” is in high demand, and is deemed illegal, someone, somewhere, will figure out how to produce it. The only change here, is that the price is driven up and we make criminals out of the individuals who make the product and those that use the product. Definitely not the intended result of the well-meaning individuals.

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Now let’s take a look at the supply of legal “products.” Everyone knows that those terrible people who make and sell illegal drugs are interested in one thing — money. Now the ugly part, the truth is the alcohol and pharmaceutical industries are also only interested in that same one thing.

Yes, I know this sounds harsh. The pharmaceutical industry puts tiny warnings on their products and the alcohol industry includes fine print, at the end of their ads saying, “Please drink responsibly.” Both industries tell you they care and they don’t want their products to be abused. Kind, well-intentioned words no doubt, but they are not backed up with meaningful actions. To my point, when was the last time you heard a single company from either industry tell their stock holders that the goal for this year is to reduce sales, “Because we know that some of our customers abuse our products?” *

I am not saying the alcohol and drug industry are the only reason we have a problem with addiction in our society.  I am saying they dang sure haven’t helped!

Conversely, by removing the demand for a “product,” the supply will dry up and the “product” will disappear, for the most part.  Notice, I am not claiming that we can make the problems with drug and alcohol completely disappear, because we won’t.  I do, however, sincerely believe we can greatly reduce the massive problem our society faces with drugs and alcohol.

“So,” you ask, “How do we remove the demand?”  The way I see it, there are two parts to this. The first is prevention. We need to educate our children about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.  Notice that I am not advocating we abolish anything here, i.e. getting rid of the supply.  I am, however, advocating that we educate our children about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse as if their lives depend upon it, because it does.  

The two most important decisions any child will ever make are about drugs and alcohol.  We must make this fundamental concept a priority.  “Not that high of a priority,” you say?  Because your kids aren’t involved in drugs or alcohol? Maybe they are and maybe they aren’t, but one thing is for sure, kids that go to school, with your little cherubs, are. The extra time teachers have to spend dealing, with discipline and learning issues, with kids who are involved in drugs and alcohol, means less time they have, to devote, to teaching your children.  Like it or not, that’s the way it is.

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We shouldn’t tell kids how to live their lives, because that won’t work. Instead teach them to understand the concept of risk and reward.  i.e. What are the good things that can happen if I go out and abuse alcohol or drugs?  Let me help you out here, there are none.

Now let’s make a list of the bad things that can happen. Sexual assault, physical assault, unwanted pregnancy, DUI, death due to alcohol or drug overdose or injury, need I go on? From a risk/reward standpoint it makes no sense.

For my son, Kevin, it’s too late, he died of alcohol poisoning on the day he moved out on his own.  In an effort to educate other families, I walked from Gilbert Arizona to Kalispell Montana with his ashes in my backpack and shared his story with over 10,000 students and parents.

As a person who has shared his story with over 100,000 people, I think it is important to understand that when we teach our children about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse, we still need to be careful about unintended messages or consequences. As an example, a school will be approached by a speaker who wants to share their story of addiction. Well meaning, no doubt, but if the story isn’t told properly, the unintended message is, “Well, he/she did it, survived, and now they have a job going around telling everyone about their mistakes. Worst case, I can do that too.” The above situation is not hypothetical, I have heard it from many students and teachers.

The second part is addressing those that are already addicted. A sticky topic no doubt, and the opinions expressed here are going to anger some folks. Once again, we start by looking at supply and demand, and see there is a great demand for addiction and recovery support. I won’t quote numbers here, search for yourself. The numbers are staggering. It has become a rather large, and largely unregulated, industry. Each company claiming its treatment process is effective.

This industry has, so called, for-profit companies and non-profit companies. I will leave the non-profit companies out of this discussion, for now, and ask the reader to contemplate what the for profit addiction and recovery industry has in common with the drug and alcohol industries.

Another sticky topic here is the term “disease.” I have read numerous articles that describe addiction as a disease, and in the strict definition of the word disease, I agree, addiction is a disease. My concern, and I suspect many others’ concern, is that, as a society, we have a different definition for disease. Disease, to many means, I have no control over how bad my disease will get or how long I will have symptoms.

The important distinction here, is that someone with cancer, for instance, can’t wake up one day and say, “Okay, I am done with this,” and never have cancer symptoms again. In contrast, with addiction, a person can decide today that they are never going to touch another drop of alcohol or do drugs again. It happens all the time. Every recovering addict I have spoken to has said that the key to their recovery was their decision to stop and to own it.  Not the same story with cancer survivors and that is my point.

Having said all that, there are simple things we can do to help addicts in their journey. Help them to rediscover their joy and purpose in life. Point them to stories (and there are a lot of them) of people in recovery who now enjoy life.  Celebrate the milestones of their recovery with them (certainly not an original thought, but a good one, none the less). One of the most common themes I hear in stories of recovery is faith.  Isaiah 49:13 says; “For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.”  When all else fails, turn your trust to the Lord and he will comfort you no matter what you have done.

In closing, reducing the demand is the best option we have. Let’s start the discussion, on the best ways to educate ourselves and our children about the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse and find the best way to get addicts to own their decision to stop. This problem didn’t start with large corporations, (although they didn’t help), and it won’t stop with large corporations. It started with people, and with the help of engaged and creative people we can control it.

Something very good will come from this.

* In the interest of full disclosure here, I should mention that I am sometimes paid to speak at various schools and churches.  I would absolutely love to no longer need to do this because drug and alcohol abuse is not an issue any more.  I could settle into a rocking chair, with a tall glass of lemonade, in a cabin, in the woods somewhere.  Folks could stop by for a visit and we can reminisce about the old days.  We could talk about how we won the “war,” not with guns or prison terms, but by enlightening our youth.

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