Lifestyle the root of drug, alcohol abuse

Press, 28 October 1982, Page 17

Lifestyle the root of drug, alcohol abuse

By

DR G. S. ROXBURGH,

Medical

Officer of Health, Nelson

An American woman journalist who had settled in New Zealand was bemoaning the fact that New Zealanders do not learn from other countries. She was particularly talking about the drug problem. While I agree we should learn from other countries’ experience, she was greatly over-simplifying the situation, and drew some very wrong conclusions. She asked: “Why had no one in New Zealand written to the Mayor of New York, or some other American cities, and got them to send some of the drug education literature they had prepared as the result of their experience, and used it in New Zealand to stop the drug problem developing?” My answer would be that this would not have stopped the drug problem developing. There are obviously still some people around who think that “drug education" is the answer to drug problems, so it might be worth making some comments on this subject. /

Drug education, per. se, can be counter-productive. This has been one important lesson we have learned from the Americans.

There are many examples from North America where such education has done

harm. In the area of solventsniffing in particular, this has been markedly the case. There is an excellent chapter in the book called “Licit and Illicit Drugs,” entitled “How to Launch a Nation-Wide Drug Abuse Problem.” It describes how giving great publicity about the dangers of solvent abuse, telling how death or serious illness could result, showing films in schools, having headlines about tragic deaths in papers, and generally warning youngsters, is counterproductive. What happened was that the warnings seemed to function as “lures” especially for the most vulnerable and susceptible group of young people. When “sniffing” was made a legal offence, plenty of arrests began to be made. The more civic leaders, educators, teachers, parents, and police tried to prevent or reduce the habit by such means, the worse the situation became. The author describes how the Hobby Industry Association produced an educational film to help tackle the problem, entitled “The Scent of Danger.” This was released to school and civic groups. Among other things, it recommended that communities make it illegal to sniff

any substance with an intoxicating effect. For this the Hobby Industry won rewards of two kinds

— public approval for its dedication to the anti-glue-sniffing campaign, and a tremendous rise in glue sales during the subsequent years! Prevention of drug abuse is a most complex subject, and we must beware of approaching it with any simplistic ideas. No simple answer to the problem exists. In fact, it is unlikely to improve until society improves ' — basically, that marriages and families improve.

No-one would dispute the fact that both marriage and the family, as two of the most basic “institutions” in our society, are not in a healthy state. Far too many marriages are breaking down. Far too many children are being brought up in highly unstable and unhappy situations. Over half of the entrants in some schools have only one parent at home. (An increasing number of children generally, as any teacher will tell you, have no parent at home during the day if they happen to get sick or injured.)

"Emotional disturbance" in children is becoming almost plague-like in proportions. And we go on treating

the casualties of the system instead of really trying'to do something about the system itself.

I am sure our legislators had the best of motives when they made it easier and quicker to break up marriages, and provided fairly generous benefits for those who decide to separate. But I wonder if such benefits do not actually encourage some people to split up, when they would make more of an effort to make a go of it. “For better or for worse” seems a sentiment that is going out of favour. Drug problems are usually just one of the manifesta-

tions of the basic problem in our society. Others are problem drinking, alcoholism, truancy, delinquency, vandalism, violence, irresponsible sexual behaviour, and reckless driving. If we could successfully prevent or reduce drug problems, we would almost automatically prevent or reduce some of these other problems.

Clear distinctions should be made between information and education, which is not always the case; neither necessarily equates with prevention. In the area of alcohol and drug abuse, prevention involves promoting healthy physical, mental, emotional, and social growth, not only for its own sake but as a deterrent to deviant and destructive behaviours.

There is a great deal of room for more of a sense of responsibility in almost every area of life in our society, especially the specific behavioural areas of sexual behaviour, driving, use of drugs (including alcohol, tobacco, cannabis); and, also, more generally, in the area of preserving one’s own health.

Such a sense of responsi-

bility does not just grow. It must be planted, and nurtured, and encouraged. Most parents are trying to do this all the time, with varying degrees of success. But some just can not, because the quality is not very highly developed in themselves, probably because their parents were the same.

Schools should play a bigger part in this enormously important task of preparing children for life, and the inculcation of a sense of responsibility. Top priority should be given to raising worthy, self-respecting citizens who can be “part of the answer” to some of the ills of our society instead of “part of the problem.” It is shocking that we should have the highest prison population, per capita, in the world, and such large numbers of other social and medico-social problems. “Education for living” and “health education” should be regarded as a more important part of the curriculum than seems to be the case in most schools now. We should be selecting and training more suitable teachers to do this all-important task in the schools. These teachers should have a good understanding of young people, of their needs and expectations, and how

they learn and develop. They should have skills in interpersonal communication, problem-solving, and conflict resolution; a sensitivity to other cultures, styles of life, and social concepts; skills in programme . planning and management; and a basic understanding of and acquaintance with a variety of strategies for prevention. We should give every young person opportunities to enhance their self-esteem. Too many feel failure because of “the system,” but we should instead be encouraging feelings of “achievement” in something, and fostering a sense of purpose. We should see that they get experiences that promote respect for self and others, as well as individual dignity. We should help them develop the personal and. social • skills necessary for effective functioning in a rapidly changing society. The “system,” as it is at present, is not giving sufficient help, support, or education, to help them cope. It is, in fact, causing many of the casualties. Instead of going on and, on, inadequately trying to deal with the casualties of the system, let us start to attend to the system and change it so that it'stops causing casualties. (And by

the “system" I include the prevailing social customs, habits, behaviours.) Among the priority recommendations of the excellent, but ill-fated Johnson Report, I found to my delight the following:

• Provision of an appropriate climate in all schools for healthy growth and maximum development;

9 Vigorous promotion of health and social education, including education in human development and relationships, morals and values; • Training and retraining of teachers in health and social education; • Extension of education for parenthood as a matter of urgency throughout our society, • Establishment of the concept that every person is responsible for one’s own health and that of dependants, including the proper knowledge and skills that enable the ready acceptance of that responsibility. It is of vital importance that this last recommendation in particular be put into practice. Success in this area will do more for prevention of drug abuse and uplift the health of the nation generally than all the sophisticated medicine under the sun.