[acb-hsp] Sex and Drug Education

[peter altschul]

Why We Need Honest Sex -- and Drug -- Education in Schoolsinin
  Tony Newman, Alterationet
  August 10, 2011
  The Bloomberg Administration announced July 9 that New York 
City students will be required to receive sex education in public 
middle and high schools.  These sex education classes will teach 
about condom use and the appropriate age for sexual activity.  I 
applaud the Mayor's campaign to teach sex education in school.  
While many parents may hope that their teenagers won't be 
sexually active, the reality is that most teenagers will have sex 
and it is important that they are educated about the risks of 
pregnancy and sexual transmitted diseases like HIV.
  The same principles and goals of sex education should be 
applied to another issue that parents have to deal with when it 
comes to teen safety -- and that is drug education.  The same way 
sex education advocates acknowledge that not all teens will be 
abstinent and need to learn how to protect themselves and be 
safe, we need to acknowledge that not all teens are going to 
abstain from drug use and they also need to be provided honest 
drug education that will keep them safe.  That's why the Drug 
Policy Alliance developed the "Safety First" program to provide 
parents and teachers will a fallback strategy for teens who say 
"sometimes" or "maybe".
  While many schools already provide honest sex education that 
acknowledges the reality that some teens will have sex, our 
nation's drug education programs treat abstinence as the sole 
measure of success and the only acceptable teaching option.  This 
simplistic and unrealistic "education" does not acknowledge the 
reality that 75% of teens will try alcohol and 50% will try 
marijuana before they graduate.  Instead of giving our teens 
honest information about drugs, we have police go into schools 
and give them reefer madness.
  Too many abstinence-only programs try to scare young people 
away from trying drugs by highlighting phony horror stories -- 
"if you use marijuana you may turn into a homeless heroin 
addict." Yet, the vast majority of people who try marijuana never 
become addicted or go on to try harder drugs.  This leads to many 
teens ignoring all the drug information relayed to them by people 
in authority.  Once we lose our credibility, it is harder for 
them to hear the messages that they truly need to hear, like the 
most dangerous thing you can do is get in a car with someone who 
has been drinking or high.
  Honest drug education would tell young people about the true 
effects and consequences -- good, bad and terrifying -- that can 
happen from a range of drugs like alcohol, marijuana and 
prescription pills.  One area of substantial progress when it 
comes to young people and drugs is the campaign against cigarette 
smoking.  This campaign treats teens with respect and gives 
honest information about smoking's consequences.  Teens also can 
see the harm of cigarette smoking in the lives of their loved 
ones.
  Ironically, one of the most harmful effects of marijuana for 
young people -- especially for young blacks and Latinos in New 
York -- is getting arrested by the police.  Under Mayor 
Bloomberg, marijuana arrests have exploded, with more than 50,000 
marijuana arrests in NYC in 2010 alone.  Close to 90% of those 
arrested are black and Latino despite the fact that white people 
are just as likely to use or sell marijuana.  These out of 
control marijuana arrests are happening despite the fact that 
under an ounce is supposed to be a ticket, not an arrest.  The 
only time someone should be arrested with under an ounce of 
marijuana is if the person is smoking it or the marijuana is in 
"plain view".  The police stop and frisk mostly young people of 
color and trick them to show them what they have in their 
pockets.  Once the marijuana is pulled out, the police say that 
it is in "plain view" and they arrest them.  Once someone is 
arrested there is a whole set of collateral consequences like 
loss of student financial aid, public housing etc.  Young people 
knowing their rights and not pulling the small amount of 
marijuana out of their pocket is honest drug education that would 
be of valuable use to NY teenagers.
  While it may be hard for parents to hear, large percentages of 
teens will have sex and will try drugs before they graduate.  I 
admire New York and Bloomberg for recognizing the need for honest 
sex education.  It is time for us to recognize that we also need 
honest drug education.  We need to drop "Just Say NO" and replace 
it with "Just Say Know".  We need our teens to know that the 
bottom line is that we love them and we want them to be safe. .



stTony Newman is director of media relations for the Drug Policy 
Alliance
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