. . . i.e., when they vastly overstate their dangers, all drug education -- even accurate drug education -- comes to be viewed with suspicion.
A related and interesting anecdote . . .
A friend of mine some years back, who was a regular club-goer to gay dance clubs here in NYC, and enjoyed the typical "cocktail" of party drugs (ecstasy, ketamine, chrystal meth, psilocybin mushrooms, etc.) when he went out (although not typically all of them in the same evening!), decided to go to the Black and Blue Ball in Montreal, a huge dance party that began as a gay circuit party and has morphed into a pan-sexual dance extravaganza drawing anywhere from 8,000 to 10,000 revelers. Of course, like all circuit parties, there are a lot of drugs consumed (particularly drawing on the list of substances above). Now, this is true in circuit parties in the U.S. and other parts of the world as well. And always, there are those (relatively few) who either take too much of something, or they take substances in the wrong combination with the others they are taking, and they run into problems requiring medical treatment. Again, that's the same everywhere. But what set Black & Blue apart, according to my friend, was that when he arrived at the party, he (and all other partygoers) was given a pamphlet put out by the Canadian Ministry of Health. The pamphlet said, in effect, "Look, we would prefer you didn't take any of these drugs, but we know many of you will do so anyway. Here's what you need to know . . . " It went on to list each of the popular 'party drugs,' giving a description of the biological mechanism of each, a list of the 'benefits' (i.e., positive things experienced by users) of each drug, an ACCURATE description of the risks entailed for each one, a list of known drug interactions, both with other party drugs as well as prescription medications, tips on how to ensure a (relatively) safe experience while using them, and what to watch out for that might be a sign of trouble requiring help. I was really amazed by my friend's description of it. I mean, can you even conceive of the U.S. Dept. of Health taking such a realistic and enlightened approach?
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