In lieu of therapy, let me just emote here. :)

[Dastard Stepchild]

I had a DISASTROUS appearance at a conference today. I was co-hosting a workshop with a colleague, and she took the lead, but we agreed that I was to introduce an idea that could have gone either way, and it bombed.

Not little bomb either.... more like :nuke:
I was mauled. :cry:

I introduced the idea that drug prevention education should make distinctions between drugs, and that we need to educate the kiddies on the comprehensive harms and suggest that some drugs are inherently worse than others. (e.g. heroin is worse than pot).

Horse, meet burning barn. Now, run towards it.

I then continued to mention that information could guide people to making safer choices in their use (e.g. If someone knows that the risk of shooting a substance with a needle is Hep C, they may make safer choices like using a clean syringe).

This is about the time the daggers began to emerge from the bags.

So, it was a heinous disaster. I came home and ate a whole package of cookies.

Phew... I don't feel remotely better, but I just needed to get that out of my system. :)

[KitchenWitch]

1. Wow

But thank you for being courageous enough to debunk some of the antidrug myths...

I agree with you!

(FYI I am a recovering drug addict - in recovery for over 20 years!)

[Dastard Stepchild]

3. oh thanks...

Really.

Wow - you've been in recovery for 20 years. Excellent and congrats!

My colleague and I have been processing this since this afternoon... I'll feel better after another batch of cookies. :)

[KitchenWitch]

5. I have been having very similar conversations with my teenage son

His elementary school participated in the DARE program. He has been asking questions about various drugs, and I gave him honest answers.

The blanket "all drugs are bad" statement is at the very least deceiving. I do not want my son to do drugs, but the only control I do have over that is getting him the right information.

[Dastard Stepchild]

13. I think that is really great...

that you are having those conversations. That was one of the things we tried to get across... that "all drugs are not created equal."

[DawgHouse]

2. I think your idea is excellent! I wish more prevention

people would be HONEST like you tried to be. Telling kids that pot is as bad a heroin is stupid and kids are smart enough to know that. So right up front they know you are lying to them and they stop listening.

Sorry it didn't go well. But the important question is.... what kind of cookies? :hug:

[Dastard Stepchild]

4. vegan chocolate chip cookies...

They were delish. They helped a bit. :)

[chaska]

6. self delete

[chaska]

7. Oh, my dear sweet, SJB.

:hug:

I'm sorry you had to go through that. You should have run that by your favorite stalker.

I once saw a debate (of sorts) on tv on the legalization of pot or something. It featured a bunch of big name politicians and pundits (I can only remember Jesse Jackson though).

If you want to find out if a liberal (let alone anyone else) is courageous or not just bring up this subject. They will run from it faster than Kid Flash. Absolutely no real ideas were allowed. It was a debate that didn't happen. There was NO opposition to the lock 'em up status quo. Mental constipation was well in evidence that night.

Another :hug: - just cuz.

[Dastard Stepchild]

8. awww....

Those are wonderful hugs. I needed that. :)

I must have been somewhat naive to think that I stood some chance of having that conversation go really, really well. :)

[KitchenWitch]

9. self delete

stupid wifi network issue!

[KitchenWitch]

10. Unfortunately

The antidrug thing is one area where the propaganda machine has worked too well. It has everyone in any position of power believing lies, or at the very least, afraid to face the truth.

:hug:

Here is a donut! Organic of course, with some organic herbal tea!

:donut:

[Dastard Stepchild]

20. Organic donuts!

Yum! :)

:hug:

[RagingInMiami]

11. So what kind of people were in the audience?

I'm sure they believe in preaching abstinence over birth control.

[Dastard Stepchild]

15. I'm afraid that we did address more of an

abstinence-only, "Just Say No" crowd than we expected. :)

[RagingInMiami]

18. Well Sjbech

You said the right thing and in your heart, you know it. It's what makes you progressive. Unfortunately, we live in a very repressed country.

And even though you're feeling down now, just keep in mind that all the great minds of this world's civilization were met with the same response, if not worse, when they voiced ideas that eventually became accepted.

Those people may go home and tell themselves that your idea, your approach to combat drug abuse, is way out there.

But give it another generation or two and things will have changed (you would think after the 1960s, that generation would be now, but as I said, this is a repressed country. It was founded by Puritans).

So check out this article where the US drug czar is saying that smoking marijuana leads to insanity. Yeah, it's fucking insane.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/19/reefer_madness/index_np.html

[Dastard Stepchild]

19. Oh.. John Walters....

and Andrea Barthwell... :scared:

Your encouragement is very much appreciated. Really. :)

[RagingInMiami]

21. Hang in there

It's never easy

[Tafiti]

12. Yeah, what Raging said.

I was wondering the same thing.

BTW, your ideas are perfectly sensible and reasonable, so don't be upset. They're the narrow-minded ones. :)

[Dastard Stepchild]

16. thanks :)

Those are some kind words. I knew DUers would help me feel a tad batter. :)

[sendero]

14. Only a moron...

.... would disagree with your premise, unfortunately, this country is populated with morons.

Don't beat yourself up, you tried to elevate the paradigm and the slugs wouldn't go along. What else is new?

[Dastard Stepchild]

17. lol....

My colleague said something similar. :)