ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 24, 1997 TAG: 9703240108
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON MALACHOWSKY
DRUG ABUSE permeates every facet of our society, crossing socioeconomic strata, race and generations, yet the "war on drugs" rages on with barely a dent inflicted.
A mainstay of our government's policy to combat this insidious problem has been an educational program, "Just Say No To Drugs," aimed primarily at our children. Millions of tax dollars have been poured into buying TV air time and billboard space, and printing myriad pamphlets. Too few are turned away from experimenting and abusing drugs. Why? Perhaps we are overlooking some basic tenet that precludes the desirable outcome we seek.
Drugs have been with us since the earliest days of mankind. Our primitive ancestors stumbled through trial and error, often with deadly consequences, building up an armamentarium of salves and potions distilled from Mother Nature. Centuries later, technology allowed scientists to synthesize the "active component" of plants, paving the way for our giant pharmaceutical industry. Then Madison Avenue entered the picture.
The selling of drugs became a multibillion-dollar industry. High-powered, expensive ad agencies and psychologists were hired not only to woo customers away from competitors but to convince new ones, through the use of slick ads often showing a physician touting a particular drug, why they too should be using a drug.
In the process, stores sprouted up across our land sporting those now infamous letters, drugstore. A place wherein the largest category of drugs is used to aid dietary indiscretions. Where countless drugs with countless side effects are called upon to combat the common cold. A place our society turns to more and more as we lose touch with ourselves.
Countless advertisements have told us to believe in the power of drugs. They can ease you to sleep at night. They can relieve acid indigestion. Headaches, no more. Worse, drug companies are coming up with products that allow you to revel in your favorite vices. No problem. Just pop this pill before you have fun.
Sound familiar? Sadly, we have become a society that reaches all too fast for a drug to fix what ails us. Whether the drug is legal is not the point. We have lost touch with our inner voice, and all too often follow the siren call of a magazine or TV ad. And the losers are not just us but our children for they follow in our footsteps.
"Just say no to drugs" won't become a reality until, as a society, we again become independent and not drug dependent. Let us heed the wisdom of Hippocrates who, when commenting on the treatment of disease said, "Nature, time and patience are the three great healers."
RON MALACHOWSKY of Roanoke is a physician assistant at the rehabilitation unit of the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Salem.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB