Drug addiction

You have probably heard in England about the surge of drug-taking that has gripped American youth. My son is a student at Berkeley University in California. There are re­ports of widespread drug addiction on American cam­puses, and the rumors include Berkeley. Is there anything that I can say to my boy to keep him from embarking on a course of drug-taking? I know that preaching, as such, won’t help because it is evident to me that at his age he pooh-poohs the values of his parents, and thinks we are old fogies. We know that his attitudes and our attitudes toward sex are miles apart. Just lecturing him in moral terms about drugs won’t do any good at all. But we would like to ward off the destruction that does attend so many young people who fall into drug addiction. Could you give me some approach?

You are honest, and at least yon realize the futility of parental advice. The sad fact is that no one ever learns from the experience of another—in small things, yes, say in learn­ing to do simple equations, but in emotional things, no.

Generally among the young, there seems to be little thought of saving for a rainy day. That attitude may stem from the more or less unconscious thought that life is too precarious. The advent of the H-bomb has had a deep effect on all youth; much of the present rebellion of youth may come from the thought that life may be short.

I said to a 17-year-old girl: “You are smoking a hell of a lot. Aren’t you afraid of lung cancer?”

Her reply: “Not a bit. I won’t live long enough; no one will.”

And so with drugs. No one who has a full, creative life will seek drugs as an escape. At its base, the drug question is not how to stop the trade, but how to make society happy enough to make the taking of dope needless. I would be shocked if any of my old pupils took drugs. I think they are too well balanced, too free from conflicts that drive people to escape routes.

The root of drug taking is unhappiness, misery ulti­mately due to the conflict between unconscious desires and moral principles. Abolish the guilt we call sin, and the drug merchants will go bankrupt.

You suggest a deep division at home: “Our sex attitudes are miles apart.” But why? Cannot you get yourselves up-to-date? Can’t you drop your puritanical attitude to sex? Or would you rather retain your orthodox repressive posi­tion and see your son ruined by drugs?

I am told that there’s a car sticker now current in the U.S.A. which reads “make love not war.” Hear! Hear!

If your boy takes to drugs, he is escaping from some­thing; I guess it is his home and its morality. It may be that your home is a sanctuary for a narrow religion, a killjoy re­ligion; it may be a home in which you, his parents, seek too much ambition for the members of your family.

I am sure that the happier the home, the less inclina­tion to gather snow—if that is what the U.S.A. still calls dope.

There is a great deal of marijuana smoking in American colleges today. It’s considered the thing to take a whiff of pot, as they call it. The medical authorities say that mari­juana is not habit forming; but they add that when a young­ster has experienced marijuana, he then wants to experi­ence an even greater thrill and goes on to stronger drugs which are addictive and destructive. My daughter, who is 19, attended one of those marijuana parties. Our relation­ship is pretty solid and she told me about it. But although the confidence between us is strong, I am nevertheless powerfully worried. She says that she just had to do it this once, but has no intention of ever doing it again. I suppose it is pointless for me to write you and ask you what can be done, but as I said before, I am ridden with anxiety.

I should guess that most young folks who experiment with marijuana once or twice do not become addicts, but I appreciate your worry. I am afraid that all you can do is to trust your daughter’s good sense.