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Local student substance abuse higher than averages

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bob searcy
Saturday, November 3, 2012: 5:44 pm
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good quality marijuana grown in the usa seldom makes its way to martinsville . whats generally available here is mexican ditchweed. i cant help but think many stoners would forego harder drugs if the pot was potent enough to buzz your head. the mexicans have even learned to perfume their weed to make it smell potent but it is not. it is worthless. dont start in trying to kill the messenger here. im telling you why the least harmful drug in this article has lost its appeal in this area..
as for abstinance, its a concept for dreamers and seldom works in the real world..
as for the feel good effect of getting kids to volunteer in the community? volunteering doesnt pay the first auto insurance premium or the first drop of gasoline. the do gooder dreamers at work again.
also if you dont have a magic wand to stop the heroin coming in here at least make disposable syringes available over the counter and cheap. i fail to see where the spread of hiv and hepc will enhance the lives of our population. recreational drugs could be formulated by pharmacy to be safer , more enjoyable and even with built in safeguards. until that day comes our kids will keep abusing increasingly dangerous homemade concoctions. ecxtasy comes to mind. more than a few european governments make the claim that ecxtasy isnt a very big concern to them. they dont approve of it wholeheartedly but overdose incidents from it are nearly nonexistant.

RaynBo
Sunday, November 4, 2012: 12:47 am
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I have an idea take out some dealers... for example Artesian Court.... 2nd apartment on the right as you enter I believe 27..... definitely meth coming out of there possible lab.....high school skip out and hang out there all day...yup they deal to kids...maybe if its gets posted for all to see something might get done!

nobodyimportant
Sunday, November 4, 2012: 7:21 am
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Legalizing what are now illegal drugs is inticing, almost intoxicating. The debate on that issue has been around for a long time. Bob, I appreciate where you are coming from. I think your heart is aching for the casulties, and there are many.

I've spent a good deal of my life in and around this issue. I've taken the time to look at the good and the bad that comes from drug use and I keep coming back to the position that not only would legalization not be helpful, it would be harmful.

To start with...and forgive me, this will take a while...drug use is consumer-driven. "The problem" is that, from pre-teens to the elderly, far too many people are unhappy with the way they feel. They look for external measures to alter the way they feel. Never is it more evident than with the use of alcohol and prescription medications. When that works, and most times it does, they either set into a pattern of use to feel differently when they want or they seek an even more instantaneous and potent mood alterer.

Second, research is very clear, the two most critical factors that relate to the extent and duration of drug use are price and availability. Not far down the list is cultural influence. Make what are now illegal drugs cheap and readily available and the incidence and prevalence of use will move even higher. Prohibition taught us that lesson. (that's another story, but the short version is that prohibition actually worked, if the measuring sticks were incidence and prevalence of us and consequences of use. Prohibition didn't end because it wasn't working, it ended because the government needed a source of revenue for the massive works projects, and later a war, that brought us out of the great depression). Increased use translates to increased "problems." Of course it has to be recognized that one set of problems that would diminish are the ones related to crime. The increases in health, mental health and functioning problems don't make that an attractive trade-off.

I see in all of this a core issue,and that is where people seek peace, contentment, and satisfaction. The hedonism I discussed earlier leads a person to seek these things in possessions (greed), pleasure (instant gratification), and escape), hopelessness.)

There is a better way. God created mankind not to please themselves, but to please Him. For too many years, I sought happiness in alcohol, better jobs, and people. All of the arrows in my life pointed inward. It was all about me and what made me feel important, worthy, and self-fulfilled. The trouble is, I never achieved those things until I gave up being the center of the universe.

I am not deceived. There are alcohol and drugs among Christians. Being a Christian isn't an innoculation against problems. I am not promoting "religion", or "church". I am testifying that when I started a relationship with the creator of the universe and started serving Him and other people; when I got out of the "it's all about me" stinking thinking pattern, I was freed from the bondages that I placed on my life. It is the best drug prevention program available.

Nurse
Tuesday, November 6, 2012: 2:22 am
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Maybe our schools(MSD Of Martinsville) could do a better job..and do Mandate drug testing and drug searches that are not emailed/phoned to the parents and students 3 days in advance. Instead of putting our head in the sand which is what our adminstration likes to do why don't we get the drugs out so the kids who aren't on drugs can LEARN in PEACE...

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