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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 14, 1973)
Drug abuse authority says myths worsen the problem By JOSH MARQUIS Of the Emerald Dr. Joel Fort, one of the nation’s leading authorities on drug use and abuse, told mem bers of a University class on psychoactive drugs that misinformation and the “selective distortion of reality” in drug education have done far more to worsen the situation than improve it. Fort spoke to over 200 persons in the class taught by Mark Miller, director of the Drug Information Center, Thursday evening. Fort, an author of several books on drug use and a founder of one of the nation’s first free clinics, has served as a con sultant to the United Nations World Health Organization as well as being a leading spokesman for the reform of drug and sex laws. Fort expressed concern that too often the drug problem is “viewed in isolation from other drugs and from society in general, when it is essential to put all the pieces together.” Fort said that America is a drug culture and that “this is best demonstrated by the fact that the tobacco and alcohol industries spend $2 million a day en couraging Americans to consume their products at the earliest possible moment on the promise of three basic imagined virtues: eternal youth, sexual pleasure and happiness.” In discussing what he termed the massive mis-information perpetuated on Americans, Fort condemned those who “over simplified the situaton by viewing the problem with alarm and out of context.” Fort said that if one carries through on this logic “that based on the possible abuses of aspirin we could get together a march on Salem tomorrow to call for strict criminal penalties for aspirin users.” Fort urged his audience to view drugs in the total context of our society. “If we are to believe all the stories we’ve been told about marijuana, it is a very remarkable drug.” explained Fort. “One self-proclaimed drug expert will tell you one night that it will cause violent and criminal behavior and the next night that it makes people drop out and become lethargic.” The doctor said that myths and “a magical belief in chemistry fostered by drug advertising” are respon sible for the erroneous con ceptions many people have about drugs. Fort told the class that it is impossible to say that any one drug will have the same effect every time, or even on the same Photo by Josh Marquis ... Dr. Joel Fort, a national drug authority, addresses members of a class on Pyschoactive Drugs Thursday evening. person. 'Take for example a cocktail party,” said Fort’ “a rite many of you have undoubtedly observed as part of an an thropology course on primitive cultures...well some people at the party will be passive, others aggressive, some flirtatious and yet other lacivious.” Responding to the myth that > persons who commit crimes are so persuaded directly by the use of drugs, Fort said “there is no drug that through its properties alone can cause a person to commit an act he would not otherwise engage in.” Fort also commented on what he called the myths about the aphrodisiac effects of certain drugs. He said that unless “other social, biological and - or cultural stimuli are present” there is no direct effect between drugs and sex. In fact, said Fort, “to quote Shakespeare on the subject of wine, ‘it provokes desire but dimishes per formance.’ ” Fort blasted many oi tne present drug education programs, terming them “counterproductive because of the lies contained in them.’’Fort said there are “four basic kinds of drug educators: the tem perance worker who appears before a high school class, drops a live worm into a glass of pure alcohol and tells them the same thing will happen to them if they drink; the drug policeman who appears with a gigantic display > board with needles and bent ' spoons: the ex-drug addict who is making $15,000 a year from some public agency telling kids ‘if you use drugs you’ll end up dead in the streets like me’; the poor PE teacher who is told by the school principal to teach a class on drugs.” Fort said that our “problem is institutional pollution, the in terference of governmental and bureaucratic institutions into our living rooms and bedrooms.” The drug expert said that “the more willing our society is to drown its troubles in alcohol, pills and other drugs, the less willing it is to deal with real problems on a confrontation basis.” Fort asked whether “parents should be more concerned about the rise in the use of ic'onal (reds) by high school students, or why the students feel it necessary to stay drugged in school.” Speaking on one of his own main concerns, Fort said that the effects of jailing people for marijuana offenses have turned thousands of otherwise perfectly responsible citizens into ex convicts with the accompanying stigma and ostracism from many jobs and activities. Fort said he believes “it is immoral in itself to make people criminals for their private behavior and, failing that logic, it simply doesn’t work.” Fort cited statistics claiming that as many as 26 million Americans have tried marijuana at one time or another. “This represents quite a gap between the people and the law,” said Fort. However Fort conceded that “the reality of the situation is that if marijuana was legalized it would not be through the efforts of reformers but probably through the profit interests of tobacco companies. Fort con cluded that the effect of drug laws have too often tended to attract people to those same drugs, rather than deter them. *vahe the UP daily with emerald & Get IT together A we'll freep It for the summer (or for as long as you want) Storage - Special Student Rates Shipping - any amount, anywhere Packing - by experts EUGENE MOVING & STORAGE northAmerican 260 Ferry St. VAN LINES/AGENT 345-0151 The Third Annual Friday, May 18 EMU Terrace 3:30 Tom Schwenzer 4:00 Eric Park 4:30 Linda Road 8:00 Barn Dance EjMinBallroon^^^^^^^ Saturday, May 18 Music School Amphitheatre 12:00 Livewood String Band 12:30 Maggie Barclay 1:00 Chris Wetteland 1:30 Bony Elbow Ridgerunners 2:00 Diane Adams 2:30 Wheatfield 3:00 Willie and the Egyptians 3:30 Twilo Scofield 4:00 Just Call Me Squirt 4:30 Kathy Smith 5:00 Heavy Guage String Band 5:30 Mance Lipscomb Presented by Willamette Valley Folk Festival Saturday night Mance Lipscomb in concert 8:00 p.m. EMU Ballroom $2 at Chrystalship Sun Shop, EMU Main Desk and at the door. the asuo cultural forum and the university folk music club or4U) rooKV^Ku. 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