When Just Say No Doesn't Work
by Joe Keil


EXCERPT

Introduction

The United States has 5 percent of the world’s population, yet consumes 60 percent of the world’s illegal drugs—this does not include the abuse of legal drugs like Robitussin, Coricidin Cough and Cold, and a long list of others. The federal government estimates that 15 billion dollars of U.S. currency annually enters Mexico from the purchase of illegal drugs. Add to this the flow of cash going to other countries, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Burma, Laos, and Thailand, where several other types of controlled substances are illegally smuggled into the United States.

The drug trade is a multi-billion dollar industry. A kilo, or 1000 grams, of cocaine costs approximately $2000 in Columbia. Once it crosses the Texas/Mexico border, it now becomes worth about $10,000. As the drugs are transported north across the country, the value increases dramatically. In the Midwest that same kilo of cocaine has a street value of about $100 per gram, or $100,000, if uncut. When cut, the value can easily reach $300,000 to $400,000. The cutting of a drug simply means adding a similar substance to the drug to increase the amount. The purity will be less, but the quantity will multiply along with the profits.

Here are a few examples of drug use in the United States: New York City consumes approximately 10 tons of illegal drugs each day; Minneapolis/St. Paul consumes about 500 pounds of cocaine each month; the city of Baltimore has an estimated population of 600,000 people with approximately 10 percent of the population, or 60,000 people, addicted to heroin; in 2004, the law enforcement in the state of Missouri located 2,204 methamphetamine labs (how many were not located?); Wisconsin has a population of 5.5 million people with an estimated 1 million people abusing pharmaceutical drugs, that’s about one-fifth of the population. Those are some startling statistics.

Many of us are unaware of the quantity of drugs that surround us within our own state, city, neighborhood, and local schools. The majority of Americans do not realize how this affects them and their families. Imagine a load of drugs headed toward this country from Mexico. If U.S. Customs, Homeland Security, and the Drug Enforcement Administration are unable to detect the drugs at the border, they continue to travel on our roadways into the heart of the country, heading toward your state. The drugs continue undetected past officers in bordering states and enter into your state getting past state police, deputy sheriffs, and local police officers. The drugs now enter into your county, city, or town still evading detection. They get into your schools, and now the drugs from as far away as Mexico are in the locker next to your child’s. One day at school your child submits to peer pressure, and now the drugs are in your own home and poisoning your loved ones. It’s too late now to believe drugs won’t affect your family!

Still there are those who argue that drug use is a victimless crime, and that it should be legalized. Crimes are committed every minute across our country, which include burglaries, vehicle entries, thefts, homicides, sexual assaults, and a variety of crimes too long to list. Many of these crimes are committed for the purchase of drugs or the person committing the crime is under the influence of drugs at the time. In fact, 49 percent of Wisconsin inmates admit that they were under the influence of drugs when they committed their crime.

Drug use is rampant across the United States. Different areas of our country deal with different types of drugs, and the popularity of a drug increases and decreases as times change. Drug usage is nondiscriminatory; age, race, creed, color, nationality, sex, or economic status does not exclude anyone from falling victim to drug addiction.

There are three different levels of drug use: the first is recreational, the second is abuse, and the third is addiction. Recreational use is usually when drugs are taken with friends at a party or on an occasional weekend. The second level usually develops when the individual begins using drugs alone, not limiting the usage to just parties or weekends. The first and second levels are usually steps to the third level, where the user’s life becomes consumed with the drug. At this point, jobs, families, and personal items are no longer regarded as important. I have talked with users who have sold the beds their children sleep in for cash to buy drugs. This is truly disheartening, as you can clearly see the family falling apart because of drug use.

Many parents are truly blind to the obvious. By this I mean our kids have a better understanding of drugs, what is available, how they work, and even the references made to them in various TV shows, movies, music recordings, and videos, than we imagine. As an example, in the movie Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, there is a scene where Shaggy is seen spraying some whipped cream in Scooby Doo’s mouth to make it look like Scooby Doo is foaming at the mouth. At the end of the scene, Shaggy holds the can upright and releases the propellant, which is nitrous oxide, and inhales it. This is a form of “huffing” and is a common way to ingest inhalants. Another example takes place on TV during a Simpson’s episode. Homer is seen licking a toad. His pupils immediately dilate and he begins to hallucinate. The reference to the Bufo alvarius toad is the fact that it excretes bufotenine, a venom that when ingested produces an LSD-type high. TV shows and movies are replete with references to drug use. While we parents sit and watch these movies and programs with our children, we may not even be aware of the drug innuendos as we see our children laughing out loud at these drug-related references.

If you don’t believe drugs can affect you or your family because of your social or economic status, look at recent court cases like Andrew Luster, one of the heirs to Max Factor cosmetics, who dosed unsuspecting females with GHB and then sexually assaulted them. Luster then fled to Mexico where he partied at bars and laid on the beach while warrants were issued for his arrest in California. United States’ officials were having a difficult time extraditing Luster back to the United States because of Mexico’s laws. Luster believed he was safe hiding out in Mexico until Dog the Bounty Hunter captured him, and Mexican officials were forced to turn Luster over to U.S. officials. In an ironic twist, Dog the Bounty Hunter and his assistants were arrested for bounty hunting, which is illegal in Mexico.

Other examples include Pete Rose Jr., who sold GBL to his minor league baseball teammates and was subsequently convicted and sentenced to one month in prison and five months of home detention. Brent Shapiro, the son of Robert Shapiro, one of the lawyers for O.J. Simpson, overdosed and died from a combination of ecstasy and alcohol. Anna Nichole Smith’s son, Daniel, died from the mixture of several medications including antidepressants and methadone. A short time later Anna Nichole Smith, herself, died of a combination of antidepressant drugs. It is clear that having money and power does not exclude your family from the perils of drug use.

It is important to remember that knowledge is power. The purpose of this book is to educate parents, teachers, and other professionals on the physical signs drugs produce on the human body, the terminology associated with different drugs, what drugs look like, and the paraphernalia associated with different categories of drugs. I hope this book gives you some insight into the drug-related dangers that your kids may be subjected to and that it becomes a valuable tool for your family.

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