Is A Life Without Limitation
 
                                    

 

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It Didn't Work Long-term Then.... And It Won't Work Long-term Now

It's an understandable and very natural reaction.  We hear about a highly destructive thing like methamphetamine addiction and we instinctively want to do everything in our power to steer people away from it, particularly our children.  But unfortunately, some of the tactics and approaches that are often used can actually do more harm than good.

Misinformation, exaggeration and scare tactics might have a degree of shock value, but the shock wears off, and long term, these methods don't dissuade people from experimenting with drugs, even hard core drugs like methamphetamine.  We've already seen this happen historically with lots of other drugs - this isn't something new or unique to this generation, or to methamphetamine.  By nature, shock value just simply wears off with human beings, it's "hardwired" into us as a coping mechanism.  There are many causes for teens addicted to methamphetamine, but not seeing enough public service announcements is not particularly high on the list.

"Demonizing methamphetamine addiction does little to prevent

people from trying the drug and can discourage users from quitting."

Dr. Dennis Embry - Child Psychologist.

 

Isn't The Truth Is Bad Enough?

Misinformation is a particularly relevant topic area, especially when you're talking about methamphetamine because there's almost as much misinformation and myth out there as there is factual information.  We certainly concede that it's difficult to describe methamphetamine use in North America today without presenting statistics that seem almost unreal, stories that seem exaggerated, and painting an overall picture that looks like the script from a bad "B movie."

But the truth about this drug is bad enough without some of the ridiculous statements we've been hearing and reading now for over three years.  There's all kinds of quality information out there, and there's no excuse anymore to say "I didn't know."  There's the HBO Series On Addiction, excellent resources at N.I.D.A. (National Institute On Drug Abuse) and many others.  And what's truly annoying is that much of this nonsense about meth is coming from sources that have a responsibility to know better, have the resources at their disposal to know better, and in many cases, are being paid by the taxpayer to know better.

As an example, here are some recent "gems" we uncovered over the past two years that have been written or stated about methamphetamine that appeared within various media sources.

  • "Meth kills a third of everyone who uses it more than once."
  • "There's no evidence that anyone can kick the meth habit once they have it."
  • "95% of everyone who tries meth more than once becomes addicted."
  • "Many people become addicted to meth the first time they try it."
  • "The brain damage caused by meth is permanent in every case."
  • "If you take 100 people who have been off meth for a year and expose them to the drug, 90% will relapse immediately."
  • "Meth users and people who manufacture meth tend to look a certain way and are easy to identify from non-drug users."
  • "Meth was originally invented by outlaw motorcycle gangs and it used to be called "crank" because they hid it in their engines."
  • "There are no known effective treatment programs for meth addiction."
  • "Everyone who uses meth long-term dies."
  • "A lot of duct tape in your neighbor's garbage might mean they're running a meth lab."
  • "Methamphetamine and Ecstasy are equally addictive."
  • "The high from meth is like having seven orgasms."  They probably meant to say that dopamine levels raise five times higher from meth euphoria than from a physical orgasm. (200 versus about 1050 on the dopamine scale)
  • "Twenty pounds of crystal meth is enough to make fifteen pounds of "finished street product."
  • "A "tweaker" or "tweeker" is 'meth lingo' for a meth user with bugs crawling on their skin."
  • "Meth mouth is caused from the ether in high quality meth reacting with tooth enamel."
  • "When you encounter a meth user on the street, they will most likely be violent."
  • "A small meth lab can make "211 doses of "finished meth" from one ounce of chemicals easily obtained in a hardware store."
  • "Meth users will always smell like the chemicals that are contained in the meth."
  • "The meth high is similar to the high you get when scrubbing the bathtub with Javex."
  • "Many meth users overdose the first time they use it and many die."
  • "Most meth users begin with marijuana, then over time, they hunger for a bigger high and switch to meth."
  • People turn to meth as a "replacement for their heroin or morphine addiction."
  • "Marijuana is the real enemy, not meth and the other drugs that get all the media attention.  Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug and there's more people addicted to it and showing up at treatment centers than for all the other drugs combined."  (This comment is really more about marijuana than it is about meth, but it's so incredibly stupid that we couldn't find a more appropriate place for it.  By the way, that quote is from John Walters, U.S. "Drug Czar.")
  • "The National Methamphetamine Awareness Campaign says that 99 percent of people are hooked on meth after using it the first time."
  • 90% of a meth user's time is spent stealing to support their habit, or engaging in deviant sex.
  • "Many people have died in their attempts at kicking the meth habit."

Now if you're convinced that any of the above statements are true, just contact us and we'll tell you the real truth.  And we're willing to do that, because once you know the truth, there's a good chance you'll tell someone else, and that's how we can educate everyone.

On the next page, we'll look at some other forms of misinformation that we feel are completely counter-productive as well.

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