'Just Say No' to drugs has failed
By Duncan Fine
February 08, 2008 03:30am
ALL sport stars have one thing in common.
Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, David Beckham: they all have the rare gift of perfect timing.
So it came as no surprise that AFL superstar Ben Cousins held a press conference on Wednesday in Sydney to discuss his drug problem at exactly the same time that news came through that Maharishi Yogi, the Indian guru to the Beatles, had died. Meanwhile, the medical report into the death of Heath Ledger was being handed down.
What's the connection? Cousins is paying a very high price for his drug problem. Meanwhile the Yogi and the Fab Four reportedly took several pharmacies worth of illicit drugs and seemed not just to get away with it but to have their reputations positively enhanced by it. And while Ledger evidently died of an accidental prescription drug overdose, since his death we've heard persistent stories about his illicit drug use.
Rock stars are almost obliged to take drugs and act crazy. Exhibit A: Keith Richards. For everyone else, even the suggestion of drug taking is highly problematic. It either has to be furiously denied (Ledger), desperately explained away (Bill Clinton's "I didn't inhale" story) or admitted with a strong dose of public humiliation (Cousins and Andrew Johns).
Yesterday Cousins told the media: "I'm not ashamed or embarrassed to say I have or have had a drug problem ... I'm not going to be the first in this position - the first high-profile person - it happens to people in all walks of life."
It has been a long four months since Cousins's arrest on drug-related charges in central Perth last October (charges were subsequently dropped).
The famous footage from that day was strange and haunting: Cousins sat expressionless behind sunglasses, no T-shirt, perfectly sculptured body, gothic-script "Such is life" tattoo with its tragic Ned Kelly reference. The image seemed to sum up his plight: the gifted athlete who threw it all away.
The "official" response to Cousins's plight came from then prime minister John Howard, who saw the dramatic fall from grace as confirmation that the zero-tolerance view of drugs was the only correct one.
"All drugs are evil," he noted, saying he was proud of his $1.4 billion "Tough on drugs" campaign.
Well I'm happy to make a stand on Cousins's behalf. This needs to be said: If we could just ditch all the rhetoric and chest-beating that passes for the so-called "War on Drugs" and instead had a rational evidence-based approach to drugs across Australian society then all people - especially young people such as Cousins and Ledger - will make better choices.
Young Australians would like some plain talking on drugs. First, if illicit drugs are evil then why would so many intelligent people across all strata of society take them?
Just how many people? Latest figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare suggest for example that 1.2 million Australians have used ecstasy.
Second, the "all drugs are evil" gang can't escape this fact: many people (and the young especially) see them as being hopelessly compromised by hypocrisy.
Because although drug use contributes to significant illness, disease, violence, crime and family breakdown with estimated economic costs amounting to more than $40 billion, tobacco accounts for 60 per cent of these costs, alcohol 22 per cent, and illicit drugs a much less significant 17 per cent.
Third, things can't possibly be as simplistic as good v evil, especially when you take even a cursory glance at history.
For example, from 1920 to 1933 the sale of alcohol was banned under the US Constitution. At the same time, opium and marijuana were legally available. So how can a drug be evil one year and good the next?
You better have a good answer ready because one day your kids will be asking you that question.
It's clear that the "Just Say No" approach to drug use has failed. And it has failed because it is totally disconnected with the reality of modern life.
This weekend, famous actors, writers, lawyers and doctors will use illicit drugs. They'll do so in spite of well-known and long-standing official attitudes against drugs. More campaigns, more warnings and more panicked hand-wringing won't make any difference.
So politicians of all colours can shout out from the rooftops that drugs are evil and that there has to be an uncompromising social condemnation of drugs. Fine. Go ahead. I'm not saying you're wrong. The trouble is nobody is listening. Certainly not young people, not even if they have as much to lose as Ben Cousins and Heath Ledger.
Duncan Fine is co-author of Why TV Is Good for Kids.
