Tied up with a big red bow

10-21-13

Drugs are bad, Mmm K.

Yeah, I am now a parent of kids who are involved with Red Ribbon Week. The problem is, I am torn on its message.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want my kids to get hooked on heroin or crack or some other kind of nasty street drug out there that will dissolve your skin. I am not ok with them doing anything that may shorten their life or leave them in some kind of vegetative state. I am not sure Red Ribbon Week is going to prevent these things.

Bobby asked me on Friday if pot was bad. I honestly could not answer that. I would have been better prepared for the question of baby origins. Sex, no problem, drugs, I am frustrated with the grey area that it has become.

When you are a parent, you do have to make sure your kids are safe, but I feel like some of that safety comes from honesty. I am not a big supporter of some drugs being illegal. I also cannot practice what I preach if I were to tell the kids to not do any kind of recreational drugs. I have done acid, I have tried pot. I have even taken ecstasy, even though it did nothing for me. For Father’s Day I made my dad pot brownies! At what point does it just become do what I say, not what I do? And how can my children respect me if this is my policy?

I realize that Red Ribbon Week isn’t such a deep concept. It is ultimately designed to get children to start thinking about their actions. If you choose to partake in a mind altering substance, there could be consequences. It wouldn’t be particularly responsible to tell them about the good consequences. Trust me when I say that even in my most inappropriate parenting moments I have not told the boys about Daddy and Mom dropping acid to go watch Will Smith movies every 4^th of July. I don’t tell them about the crazy leaf lady we saw or how the pizza guy was creepy or how the pool turned into a sandpit. Ken doesn’t give the boys the full run down of how much different Disneyland is when you are frying.

However, it doesn’t mean I won’t tell them these stories. It means I need to know my audience. For now, I try to make sure they do understand that just because you take drugs doesn’t make you bad. I have to also explain to them that when I say I need to go pick up my drugs from the pharmacy it doesn’t mean Mom is a crack whore. Red Ribbon Week sadly only seems to look at things in the color of Stop, not think.

In the case of Marijuana, I worry that we are doing it an injustice. Pot is about as dangerous as booze, and yet we don’t have a ribbon week dedicated to keeping kids off the bottle. I can assure you Red Ribbon week probably doesn’t  tell you about cancer patients that have benefits from the medicinal uses of cannabis. I am sure it doesn’t give information about people getting hooked on prescription drugs. The message is broad and vague. Hugs not Drugs. Turn your back on drugs. They actually are wearing sunglasses one day for this week so they can show that they are blocking out drugs. Isn’t that making the real dangers trivial and clouding the message?

I agree, kids should be taught about the evils of the world. They need to understand that they will be tempted by various things that will cloud their judgment and has potential to wreck their lives. Wouldn't it be better to not talk down to the kids quite as much as we do? We have them learning algebra at the age of 7 yet we are still talking to them like they are 2 when it comes to other things.

I intend on having a long discussion with my boys about drug use this week. Just as I have spoken to them about alcohol consumption, I will explain that yes, there are some fun things about them. I also will explain the dangers involved and let them make a much more informed decision concerning their future.

Drugs are not all bad. Drug abuse is, and I just hope that the kids this week are actually taught some useful information.  I fear this is just a big box of contradictions tied up with a pretty red bow.