WHY NOT HAVE PHARMACISTS TEACH KIDS ABOUT DRUGS?
Pharmacists’ eyes gleamed in excitement when I told them of my research for a new drug education curriculum that would be taught by pharmacists. That is because they know how badly disinformed [deliberately misinformed – as in disinformation] the US citizenry is about drugs. I asked about legally available “dangerous drugs” positing that they were as dangerous as or more dangerous than illegal drugs. I was promptly schooled and told that most – if not all- problems with these drugs had to do with stupid reckless user decisions. And while illegal drugs have never been shown to be as harmful as legal ones they were inherently more risky due to the lack of standards due to their illegal status.
Undoubtedly, pharmacists would be far less likely than I to call police and educators liars; they would give useful answers and would not parrot drug war disinformation. That is why they are not invited to speak at drug awareness meetings with students and their voting parents. Those meetings are NOT for the purpose of serious education: they are a badly disguised political rally for current drug policy. If every speaker at these meetings were under oath nearly every one could easily be convicted of perjury. The only defense for these speakers is incompetence: anyone who suggests that the use of drugs cause behavioral problems is incompetent to educate others. Police chiefs and other police leaders know this. That is why they avoid forums with knowledgeable drug war critics like a plague.
JT Barrie
Philomath Oregon
541-929-5392
My book is a launching pad for further discussion with honest and knowledgeable drug experts. First on the list are pharmacists with doctors a distant second. I have found no doctors or pharmacists as big drug war advocates. They recognize the problems that this policy causes for drug consumers. I have no exercises involving contact with police or educators about drugs: they are motivated to disinform the public. I explain this in the book. Pharmacists are extremely reluctant to talk about illegal drugs because they are not reliably made and there has never been government sanctioned research that can be taken seriously as to how they effect users. How can you seriously research any product whose quality is so variable and whose clientele is adversely selected towards anti social behaviors? I suppose my business education when I sold insurance is a big detriment to my buying the drug war disinformation campaign. It just doesn’t add up!
