Actually Talking About Drugs
I didn’t get a lot in class
But I know it don’t come in a shot glassThey tried to make me go to rehab but I said ‘no, no, no’
Yes I’ve been black but when I come back you’ll know know know
I ain’t got the time and if my daddy thinks I’m fine
He’s tried to make me go to rehab but I won’t go go go- Rehab, by Amy Winehouse (Youtube)
Welcome back and happy new year! In the spirit of positive, attainable goals as resolutions, I’ve decided to resolve to do something I can definitely do: Finally make good on the pages we had planned for the Drug & Alcohol section. Thematically, I’d like to think of it as meeting people halfway so that it’s more about talking about drugs than just talking at people about drugs.
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Gone are most of the pages on “drugs and their effects” and in their place, an as-short-as-I-could-manage page on “What does this drug do?“. There are plenty of sites that will list off all the possible risks and effects of a particular drug, so we’ve just given you a quick blurb and offered links to those, plus a couple of sites where people submit questions and are getting some great, down-to-earth answers.
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Questions like “What is responsible drinking?” and “Is my friend smoking too much pot?” illustrate how important the whole question of use versus misuse was, though the more we looked at it, the harder it felt to draw thick, black lines illustrating what was okay and what wasn’t… drugs and drug use can affect everyone quite differently. Instead, we’ll be looking at the more subjective stuff: worries, concerns, feelings. You’re worried about a friend’s drinking?… Okay, so are there things you’d like to be able to say to them? Or say you’re worried about your own drug use… Are you thinking that maybe you’d like to talk to a counsellor about it, or maybe just find a way to bring it up with someone you trust, or are you thinking you should consider rehab?
The former, “I’m worried about someone’s drug use”, is now live while a page discussing options for getting help should be coming in the next couple of weeks.
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Finally, because we realize that there’s good with the bad, that some people will keep using or drinking, that “cold turkey” isn’t always the best way to quit, we’ve added a slightly more practical section on “Safer Partying”, which has a few tips for what to do if things go very, very badly, and (more importantly!) some ideas of how to keep that from happening.
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Thanks to everyone for your patience. We’ll try to keep the updates rolling!
