On 07-12-97  04:17, Jane Kelley typed to Ty Meissner
  regarding: => our toxic environment <=
 Hello Jane,
 TM>       Its time we put a stop to having K-12 environmental curiculea
 TM>       designed by chemical industry PR people.
 JK> First of all, we the people have to take our country back.  A bit hard
 JK> when the nation is flooded with one mind altering drug or another.
 JK> First it was Heroin, then cocaine, and now we are seeing more and more
 JK> marijuna used by kids.
      Come on Jane, can you REALLY blame our troubles on the 5 million
      illegal drug users ?   Or the 70 million adults who according to Gen
      McCaffrey smoke marijuana ?
      You are right that serious drug users aren't usually politically
      active, unless you include booze.   But I don't think their political
      behavior is the source of our problems.   More likely some of them
      use drugs because we as a society, have a very bad record when it
      comes to solving peoples problems.
      Take homelessness for example.  Were I homeless, I would be
      powerfully motivated to anethesize my pain with alcohol or drugs.
      Not all homeless addicts became addicts before becoming homeless.
      Lets not overlook the fact that a large number of homeless addicts
      have arrived at that status by way of their experiences in the
      service of the government that turned its back on them when they
      returned from Vietnam.
      Without doing a scientific survey I couldn't presume to know
      WHY kids today are using the drugs they use.  I do know this, though.
      When we had music and arts and sports and other extracurricular
      activities to occupy us, as when I went to school in the 40s and 50s,
      most of us were too busy to experiment with drugs.
      Today, nearly all of those programs have been ended because voters
      didn't want to pay for them and corporate tax breaks too.  Something
      had to go, but it was NOT corporate tax breaks.   Corporations paid
      around 400% greater taxes in the 40s - 60s than they do today.   So
      as a result of our greed, kids (who aren't allowed to vote) no longer
      have music, arts, sports, in most but the most wealthy elite suburban
      schools.
      In the words of a professional drug dealer speaking to community
      leaders, "When your kids are out on the streets, we're there, but you
      aren't.  When kids get in trouble they come to us because we're there
      and you aren't."  Its true.  Except for the drug dealers, most adults
      have turned their backs on children or see them only as potential
      miscreants.
      Many physisican organizations, including those at NIH, feel that
      drug abuse would be far better reduced by using the harm reduction
      model instead of the punitive and costly criminal justice model.
      We are making big progress when we can begin to hold corporate
      America accountable, as with the tobacco industry.
      I know that my viewpoint is particularly irritating to some folks (as
      reflected by their comments that I should stick to herbs and potions)
      but I firmly believe that PREVENTION is *just as important* a part of
      medicine, be it orthodox or alternative, as treatment.
      I understand why this viewpoint is greeted with hostility.  None of
      us want to give up our bad habits, let alone addictions.  None of us
      want to change our possibly unhealthy lifestyles.
      And it seems to be an almost universal trait, that when bad news is
      recieved, the first one punished, ALWAYS, is the messenger.
      Part of that prevention is to reduce the amount of BAD STUFF we put
      into our mouths, like foods soaked in saturated fats or foods with
      traces of neurotoxins in or on it, or the foods fertilized with toxic
      and radioactive wastes.
      That's why I think its CRITICAL that any homemaker with small
      children' buy only organic produce and meats, and avoid processed
      foods with chemical additives and preservatives.   The actions of
      these toxins is far more profound in children than adults.
      Ty
	 Ty Meissner	E-MAIL: Ty.meissner@grape.net
     I will sleep and dream like the air, and move like the wind, with 
assion
     when it pleases me.  The Universe is not up there... Its here, and we're
     in it, third rock out from the sun.   --  Peter Spiro
... You've Seen One Redwood, You've Seen them All!  R.Reagan
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