Shame on The Chronicle, of West Lorne, Ontario, for running this high school student's column and not fixing his/her spelling and grammar. Embarrassing a kid in print, in front of the whole town, is a bad introduction to newspapers. No wonder kids end up so screwed up on MTV and YouTube and MySpace.Yeah, well, and shame on Taylor Cundy for being such a crappy speller and having such lousy grammar. Youth is No Excuse for subliteracy. Especially for a Canadian Anglophone Youth.
Can't verify, but my intuition is that Taylor's a girl. She COULD have shown her draft column to her Health Teacher before she sent it off to The Chronicle. Maybe she did. So shame on the Health Teacher. Surely good spelling and good grammar are important components of good health.
West Lorne is near London, Ontario, and has a population of 1400. Wikipedia reports that West Lorne is home to western Elgin County's only high school, West Elgin Secondary School.
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The Chronicle
West Lorne, Ontario, Canada
Thursday 5 April 2007
Column:
Most Teenagers Don't Use Pot
by Taylor Cundy
In health class every year we learn about drugs and their effects on the human body. We learn the drug groups and some of the effects. What we don't learn is what this does to the brain and the rest of our body. The thing that scares me about health class is that nobody listens and I know that over half my class is going to try drugs before they turn eighteen. I hope that this article will give them enough information to not try drugs.
The most popular drug that we hear about in our area is marijuana. One in six high school students have tried marijuana. Marijuana has many different street names but in our area the most common names are weed and pot. What people that use marijuana don't know is that traces of this drug stay in your body for up to seven days after you actually use it. Some effects of marijuana are feeling very thirsty, hungry, paranoia and delirium. If I could tell all marijuana users one thing it would be that you don't have to use marijuana just because you think everybody else is doing it. Most teenagers do not use marijuana!
Another drug that teens take is ecstasy. They use it at raves so our area probably doesn't have a lot of this drug. Ecstasy has good and bad side effects. Some good side effects are self-confidence, empathy, energy and peacefulness. Then there are the bad side effects which include the need to touch other people, increased heart rate and blood pressure, blurred vision, chills and or sweating. Are you willing to take these risks every time that you take ecstasy?
There are four main stages of drug abuse. The first stage is experimental use which usually involves peers for recreational use. The next stage is regular use where the taker worries about losing the drug. Daily preoccupation is the third step where the user loses any motivation and there behaviour changes become obvious. The last stage of drug abuse is dependence where the user can't face daily life without the drug. This is the stage when the user will need serious rehabilitation help.
I don't think that drugs are cool and I don't get why people try to pressure others to try drugs. I hope that this article has taught you something that you didn't know and has convinced you that there are bad things that go along with drugs. Always remember that its okay to say "no" to something that you don't want to do.
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The Chronicle
West Lorne, Ontario, Canada
Thursday 26 April 2007
Letter to the Editor:
Students Keep Using Drugs
Dear Editor,
Much of Taylor Cundy's column "Most Teenagers Don't Use Pot" (5 April) reflects a school drug curriculum of value. Cundy writes, however:
"What people that use marijuana don't know is that traces of this drug stay in your body for up to seven days after you actually use it."
This factoid doesn't exist in a vacuum, but warns students that they risk failing a school or workplace drug test. It's three weeks too short; THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, is fat soluble and typically lingers in detectable amounts for up to a month after ingestion.
In the United States, where suspicionless random student drug testing has become central to anti-drug policy, students have learned about marijuana's month-long lingering traces.
Students are protecting themselves against a life-destroying failed drug test by shifting to heroin, which has become concentrated enough to snort rather than inject.
Opiates like heroin, codeine, morphine and Oxycodone are water soluble, and are flushed from the body within a few days, so teens can party with opiates on Friday night and -- if they live through the weekend -- test negative by Tuesday.
Law enforcement and drug-testing industry authorities claim that when students know they'll be tested, students stop using drugs.
In fact, students keep using drugs, but as peer word spreads, they shift from a medically innoccuous substance to highly addictive and toxic substances to evade the tests.
No death has ever been attributed to marijuana use. Fatal heroin and opiate overdoses, and deaths from binge alcohol drinking, are commonplace tragedies. Such teen deaths are on the rise in the USA because of badly flawed government anti-drug policies which rely on the instant magic junk science of suspicionless student drug tests.
Robert Merkin
Northampton, Massachusetts (online reader)
Copyright 2007 The Chronicle
21 comments:
""Such teen deaths are on the rise in the USA because of badly flawed government anti-drug policies which rely on the instant magic junk science of suspicionless student drug tests"" I also think that bad parenting is to blame. when there is a kid addicted to drugs that hasn't been entered in to a Treatment Center or been offered some form of help it is also the parents failing as well as the schools.
Hiya Mike --
In about 5 years of blogging from Planet Vleeptron, I've carried only 1 paid ad. First the sales guy's e-mail shocked me; Vleetron doesn't exactly get a big crowd of ad salesperson waving money in my face for ad space.
But the Product was a very fancy and pricey private drug rehab facility in Southern California. (The founders have been on Oprah and merrily and loudly guarantee a 100 percent Cure Rate, regardless of how fucked up you are and on whatever crap you're fucked up on.)
I had Issues with carrying a paid ad for this very Californianesque Wonder Clinic ...
But I also used to have a really close pal in L.A., she was from Movie People and there was always Money in the background. And maybe if she'd checked herself into the Surf View Wonder Cure Celebrity Rehab (as seen on Oprah), she'd still be around today, and we could still talk on the phone in the middle of the night like I used to love. She was awfully smart and awfully funny, and we both were concerned about one another.
So good-o for your Mountainside Treatment Center in Canaan Connecticut. Maybe if I decide I need that kinda holiday, I'll barrel down there, no more than 1 or 2 hours from me. Do you mind if I park my 4x4 Toyota pickup in the lot? (I can park it behind the Dumpster if you ask nice.)
If anyone else is thinking along these lines, the toll-free number is 1-800-762-5433. Health insurers are notorious stingy about paying for rehab or any problems north of the neck, but who knows, maybe you or your family has a metric shitload of cash, or maybe your health insurer is oddly supportive of these kinds of things.
How's the chow at Mountainside?
Crappy Parenting you shall always have with ye. Crappy Parenting is not going away anytime soon, and so the community is always going to have to contend with its toxic waste and try to heal it and minimize the damage.
So I think we should largely skip the fantasy of making everybody a skilled, responsible, loving parent, and then focus on things responsible adults can do to minimize the damage of Crappy Parenting.
My personal fave is ending the much more common substance-abuse treatment facility in the USA: prison. This is entirely a medical matter. When your kid pops up with a drug problem, you phone the family doctor, you don't call 911 and ask for the SWAT Team.
Anyway, thanks for visiting Planet Vleeptron. Good luck to Mountainside and to all the people who seek help there.
Taylor Cundy has guts!! She is only 15 years old and who are you to criticize her writing? She wrote an amazing article that may or may not help teens, but thats not the point. The point is that she took her time to try and reach out and show teens that we can do better then sink to that level! Not only that, but she was only 13 when she wrote this and it is not only utterly rude to say she is not doing a good job, it is also inhumane. Look back at your work when you were 13 and tell me that you never made mistakes. I bet you can't. Everyone makes mistake and if she is not good at her work then tell me how come she is editor of our news paper. Point being, lay off. You're not perfect and no where near so don't try to be!
Hiya defense --
I was just careening all over Canada, sorry I missed ya. We could have had a sandwich at Tim Horton's.
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Taylor Cundy has guts!! She is only 15 years old and who are you to criticize her writing?
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Me, I am the Vleeptron Dude, I criticize everybody's writing. I used to get paid a bunch of money for criticizing everybody's writing. It's what I do.
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She wrote an amazing article that may or may not help teens, but thats not the point. The point is that she took her time to try and reach out and show teens that we can do better then sink to that level!
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Dude, you could use a little help, too. Why don't you buy a little paperback called "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White.
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Not only that, but she was only 13 when she wrote this and it is not only utterly rude to say she is not doing a good job, it is also inhumane.
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When the little girl sent her essay to the daily newspaper, she invited the entire English-speaking newspaper-reading world to read her stuff and have opinions about it. When it got posted to the Web, people in India and Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe and Jamaica get to click their mice and throw darts at it. She gets no Free Youth Pass from Vleeptron. It's just like entering a sheep at the county fair -- maybe your sheep wins the blue ribbon, maybe not even honorable mention. Only her ideas and the way she expresses them are important, not her student half-price bus pass. The op-ed page is the Major League, where the standards are.
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Look back at your work when you were 13 and tell me that you never made mistakes. I bet you can't.
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I made writing mistakes when I was 13. But *you* couldn't find or understand or explain them.
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Everyone makes mistake and if she is not good at her work then tell me how come she is editor of our news paper.
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Yes, that truly is a mystery, how come she is editor of your high school news paper.
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Point being, lay off. You're not perfect and no where near so don't try to be!
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Is this some sort of international threat or cross-border intimidation?
Chill, dude, I know a Real Big Mountie.
I think we should largely skip the fantasy of making everybody a skilled, responsible, loving parent, and then focus on things responsible adults can do to minimize the damage of Crappy Parenting.
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Andrew William
http://www.marijuanaaddictiontreatment.com
Hiya andrew123 --
Wow ... this humble post just keeps drawing comments. And of course Vleeptron's Only Paid Ad!
What is it about this topic, about this subject, that keeps drawing hits and attention?
andrew123 ... my problem with your post is that I don't believe in "marijuana addiction." I think it's a fear-driven scam to keep the court-enforced substance rehab industry fat and sassy.
Kicking "marijuana addiction" is about as difficult and life-wrenching a process as kicking coffee.
The concept of "addiction" shouldn't be abused and distorted with pot. Nobody's served, although a big industry gets richer.
Addiction? Focus authentic resources on
1. alcohol
2. cocaine
3. opiates
4. methamphetamines
... and wait for pot-smokers to voluntarily ask for a little help to get over their coffee-level habituation problem.
But I got to say ... your website is the slickest website for this sort of thing I've ever seen. Love the Talking Babe in the bottom corner!
The Marijuana drug rehab centers provide the effective therapeutic treatment to drug abusers in the short period of twelve moths. marijuana drug rehab centers provide effective treatment and services to their patients. If you want to more information about the marijuana drug rehab centers so you can visit the web site.
http://www.edrugrehabs.com/SubstanceAbuse/Marijuana-Addiction-Treatments/Rehabs/index.html
Marijuana has psychoactive and physiological effects when consumed, usually by smoking or ingestion. The minimum amount of THC required to have a perceptible psychoactive effect is about 10 micrograms per kilogram of body weight (which, in practical terms, is a varying amount, dependent upon potency). A related compound, .9-tetrahydrocannabivarin, also known as THCV, is produced in appreciable amounts by certain drug strains. This cannabinoid has been described in the popular literature as having shorter-acting, flashier effects than THC, but recent studies suggest that it may actually inhibit the effects of THC. Relatively high levels of THCV are common in African dagga (marijuana), and in hashish from the northwest Himalayas
okay NEW RULE on VLEEPTRON!!!
If you want to leave all kinds of scientific facts about drugs or evolution ...
YOU MUST CITE YOUR SOURCES and they must all be peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals.
There is No Such Thing as
Marijuana Addiction
There. I've said it. Sue me.
Going Cold Turkey from marijuana is an ordeal every bit the nightmare of going Cold Turkey from Starbucks coffee.
You can do this. Without 3 months in the county jail.
Im so sick of seeing all sorts of blogs and articles blown up with anti pot comments and suggestions of addiction, harm, and necessary rehabilitation, only backed up by the same tired bullshit the whole country has been fed since the "drug war" started. You can't possibly throw enough medical "facts" around to convince me that marijuana is harmful. I've heard it all. When I was younger I was prescribed to all kinds of drugs that my parents, teachers, and authority figures were certain i should be taking. Drugs for "ADD", "Bipolar", "Depression", or in my opinion, "Drugs to help minimize the effects of my growing up and maturing on peoples lives who didnt want to deal with me" were all in my medicine cabinet, and school nurse's safe. Due to my array of medication, which many of my friends also had at the time, i was put into a zombie like state. Then I found pot and I can honestly say bud saved my life. The day i started smoking, i quit taking all those damn pills and regained a personality, a mindset, and a life. You want to talk about a pothead being a non functioning, non caring member of society? Bullshit, I call all you who absorb and believe everything you hear on tv and the news, non functioning non caring members of society. Those of you who will regurgitate what you hear in an attempt to legitimize a war on pot, sticking with harsh penalties, completely disregarding decriminalization, and offering rehab for pot, are all ignorant mindslave subjects of your pseudo establishment. Why not make your own decisions and opinions, and not look down on those who break the mold and dont follow the "norm." Its the people who told you how horrible marijuana is that also put me on all the drugs when I was younger, Amphetamine salts for my ADD (speed), Lexapro for my depression, which caused suicidal thoughts and a lack of concern for ANYTHING, and cimbalta for my bipolar condition which is known for causing schizophrenia. You people are pathetic, grow a fucking brain.
gdubba --
Chill! Take a couple of Deep Breaths! Get a grip!
If that doesn't work, click on Travelocity and buy yourself a week in Amsterdam. (Big travel bargains right now.) Unbelievably friendly and beautiful city, and they got these things called Coffeeshops. My faves: Bulldog, and Grasshopper.
But Softland sells this stuff called White Smurf. Ten minutes later, I needed assistance to pee.
Meanwhile, there is Hope -- Obama's administration just agreed to stop raiding medical marijuana dispenseries in states that allow medical marijuana. And the voters in my state -- 65 percent of them -- just decriminalized small personal possession amounts -- you pay a fine, but you get No Criminal Record.
Relax, big guy.
You're right vleeptron dude, I need to relax and just take a couple tokes. I do apologize that your blog ended up being the outlet for quiet a bit of frustration. I respect your stance in your original post and I've just seen countless articles just touching on marijuana use and in an instant its blown up with bullshit. I'm fully aware of what I can do about how I feel on the subject, and I am an active member in my local NORML chapter, and attend many rallies and gatherings throughout the year. It just really hits home with me when I read all these peoples posts over and over again saying the same thing, when pot has been such a beneficial thing for me and I believe it could be hugely beneficial for the population as a whole.
As for Amsterdam, I've been a judge at the last two cannabis cups, and am very aware of the coffeehouses that they have there. $1500 buys tickets, a place to stay, and a judge's pass. Let's go. Bulldog has always seemed a little too overpriced for me, but every time I go, I pay a visit to Harley's Bar, definatley recommend stopping in to anyone who ever plans on making a trip to Amsterdam
Oh yeah, Softland's White Smurf won the Cannabis Cup a few years ago! I never imagined pot could ... uhhh ... what were we talking about?
One time I ended up in the Garfield coffeehouse, it was mostly filled with very pissed-off Mollucans, but they were very hospitable to me.
Then another time I wandered into a coffeehouse that was all for gay guys, it was blaring Tekno at 4000 dB, and showing huge overhead videos of Turkish wrestlers all slathered up in olive oil.
I tried a couple of times to stay at the Bulldog Hostel, that looked like it would be Beyond Fun, but they never had room.
Yup, Bulldog overpriced, touristy, sort of the McDisney of Dope. But they've ALWAYS treated me just swell, they got the best fresh-squeezed fruit juice bar in Europe, and the best souvenirs and t-shirts.
Thanks for your tips! Seriously, next time you plan to go, zap me an e-mail, maybe I can Escape and join ya!
The original article was written by a grade 7 student who was only 13 at the time. She was not the editor of the paper, and it was not a high school paper. It is a community paper that gives a student in grade 7 and 8 the opportunity to write about local student issues for the paper. This is to encourage young promising writers to consider furthering their careers in a writing field.
I currently teach this student, and in spite of some of these harsh criticisms, she is still pursuing a career in writing. Her writing has only improved since this article was written.
Just to contextualize, half of my current grade 11 University bound students couldn't write as well as she did in grade 7.
The dude is totally right, and there is no suspicion.
Heroin is an awful drug and we see so many people suffering from heroin addiction. It ruins lives as do many other opiates it is best for someone to enter into a
drug and alcohol rehab center to end the addiction.
Hi joan --
Yeah, hooray for ETHICAL & MEDICAL rehab, I'm all for it.
I'm AGAINST mandatory court-ordered rehab.
I'm against criminal laws which send people to prison for medical problems. Medical problems should be exclusively treated by medical professionals -- not by police, prosecutors and prisons.
Portugal is the national poster child for decriminalizing drugs these days. No jail. Medical help.
btw medically, if your heroin is untainted, and of known strength, the chief medical consequence of opiate addiction is constipation. When they're not constantly terrified of getting busted and going to prison, heroin addicts lead fairly gentle, nice lives.
Teens are abusing all types of drugs today including alcohol. LSD that everyone thought had disappeared has made a comeback today.
LSD drug rehab is available in almost all drug treatment facilities in the US today.
What are you searching for in a drug rehab treatment facility. You no longer have to suffer from addiction anymore we have professional staff here to guide you through the recovery process along the way!
Most alcohol rehabs allow you to stay with them until you are fit to be on your own. Some provide treatment and counselling for a few hours a day so that you could continue your treatment even at home.
alcohol rehab centers
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