MATERIALS RECOMMENDED IN THE PRESENTATION "BETTER LIVING THRU CHEMISTRY," 1971 U.S. AIR FORCE PHARMACY SEMINAR, BROOKS AIR FORCE BASE, TEX.

Capt. Dean Peyton

Capt. David Stevenson

1. Resource Book for Drug Abuse Education, National Clearinghouse for Mental Health Information, 1969. One free copy from the U.S. Public Health Service, National Institute of Mental Health, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20015. Additional copies $1.25 each from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402.

2. Drug Abuse Films, National Coordinating Council on Drug Abuse Education and Information, 1971. $2 per copy from the NCCDAEdI, Suite 212, 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW., Washington, D.C. 20036.

3. Marijuana and your Child, Grossett & Dunlop and Parade Magazine, 1970. $1.25 from Parade, 733 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017.

4. The Time Guide to Drugs and the Young, Time & Life Books, 1970. $1.50 from Time & Life Books, Time & Life Building, Rockefeller Center, New York, N.Y. 10020.

BETTER LIVING THRU CHEMISTRY

"Better Living Thru Chemistry" used to be just another advertising slogan; now it is a sly joke to the young and a grievious worry to their parents and Americans in general. An alarming number of people are literally swallowing this message whole. Or if they aren't swallowing it, they are:

sniffing it
snorting it
smoking it

sprinkling it on food

or injecting it IV.

The growth of drug abuse has become the most alarming new problem on the national scene. There is an urgent need for drug abuse education. But while education is important, it is by far the most difficult to use of the tools available to us. Inexperience and the paucity of research hinder our efforts. There is a thin line between educating for prevention and stimulating curiosity. And it is obvious from the lesson of Prohibition that if our efforts are to be successful they must be more than a harsh "Don't do it!" Further compounding the problem is the fact that while no one promotes automobile accidents or forest fires there are many subtle pressures in our society that actually promote drug abuse.

We believe that the pharmacist has a responsibility in Drug Abuse Education. We claim to be drug experts and we have at least some responsibility for public health. Then too, if the story is not heard from you, then from whom. Given the current high interest in this subject by the DOD and the country at large I believe that every pharmacist should assume that sooner or later he will be asked to speak to a group on the general subject of Drug Abuse.

This presents a problem because a pharmacy degree does not necessarily result in good Drug Abuse Education. For the good of the profession, at least one pharmacist who I have heard should be muzzled. And certainly our early presentations could have been much better than they were.

Our efforts began in March, 1970 when the pharmacy was asked to present first one, then several, programs as part of a base wide project. Our first programs were panels, largely because no one had the guts to go it alone. Later we added a film to the end of the panel. We also tried a lecture by a single person, and for our hospital personnel we used to lecture format that included a film. Our most successful programs were 1 or 2 person presentations built around a film, and we recommend this format.

In addition to our subjective feelings on this, we know of our successes and failures because it is our practice to pass out questionnaires at each of our presentations. This procedure is highly recommended. Incidentally, and I might go so far as to say that you must evaluate the impact of your efforts in this area. Here is an early example of a questionaire, and some of the actual responses we got.

1. Focus. Then a blank questionaire.

2. Too hot to sleep, too dull to stay awake.

3. Worst Dog and Pony Show I've ever seen.

4. Alcohol and Tobacco Drugs? Come on.

5. Panel sure doesn't know why kids take drugs.

6. After 25 minutes of that ignorant captains ramblings.

In an overall evaluation, the most successful type of presentation was the lecture by a single person built around a film. We recommend this format. Lately, at Scott, the Drug Abuse Control Committee has launched an ambitious program using ex-drug addicts from Archway House, a therapeutic community in St. Louis. This we judge to be the most effective program we have tried. A program such as this is not available at most bases, of course, but we have prepared a presentation so that you will know that this is one of the kinds of programs available in the area. (25 slides, 8:10 tape)

These ex-addicts tell a very personal and moving story. Of course, these people are from the "skid row" of drug abuse. They are the small percentage who are the real losers in the game of chemical dependence. By virtue of this very fact, however, they have a very heady impact. As the slides flashed I'm sure you noticed the looks on the faces of some of the audience. We urge you to witness one of these programs in person if you can.

A word of caution, though-do not use material from this type of presentation in your own. You cannot say "last night I heard a terrible story from a heroin user" or "an ex addict told me . . ." Similarly, some distortions pass unnoticed when the addicts speak them, but they will not pass unnoticed from you. Our questionaires have convinced us that you must be scientifically accurate, and that if you are not your efforts will be wasted.

We would like to present our philosophy now, in the guise of some guidelines for Drug Abuse Education.

First, be prepared. A person needs a good store of knowledge to hold his own with the free thinking, curious young people the programs are often aimed at. Ill prepared speakers can only increase doubt and distrust of adults. So, how do you become prepared? The best way I know is to carefully read and digest the Resource Book for Drug Abuse Education put out by the National Clearinghouse for Drug Abuse Information, a part of the Public Health Service. The price is $1.25 from the Government Printing Office but we were fortunate in being able to talk them out of a free copy for each of you.

Second, effective Drug Abuse Education should be tailored to the needs and level of the audience. And it should seek to do rnore than inform in the way a newsmagazine informs.

In your delivery speak from memory if you can, or from notes if you can't. A full reading of a speech is usually dull. If you must read, underline key words and phrases and use them as a guide. But at all costs avoid memorizing a speech word for word. It's dull, and if you get lost midway, you're stuck.

Try also to spark an emotional response in your audience. Talk to them as individuals and on their own level. Try to keep a light touch and "be yourself". At the end, call on them to do something.

Thirdly, effective drug abuse education should also take into consideration that we live in a drug using society. People look to drugs to alleviate a host of physiological, psychological, and social discomforts, with varying degrees of

success.

Young people brought up on TV have been told that drugs turn rain to sunshine, gloom to joy, and constipation to euphoria. And not just TV-every media to which we are exposed tells us that the way to dispel doubt and solve problems is to swallow, inhale, chew, drink, eat, or insert something.

This campaign is successful. In 1970 the FDA reports that Americans filled 225 million prescriptions for "mind affecting drugs"--an increase of 59 million since 1965. The younger set would call this "mind blowing".

Some people adopt the stand that using marijuana is not vastly different from the use of alcohol, tobacco, or mind affecting drugs. Educational efforts that do not cover the entire spectrum of drugs, including tobacco and alcohol, often strike young people as laughable examples of adult hypocrisy. On the other hand, we feel that we have had good response from programs that give the facts about all drugs of abuse and distinguish between drug use, drug misuse, and drug abuse. Finally, untruths, exaggerations, sensationalism, and moralizing kill the effectiveness of drug education programs. If 20% of your audience of 50 has used a drug-and I mean any drug-there are 10 people who are carefully measuring your words against empirical knowledge. And at least 20 others will likely have been briefed by the 10 experimenters. So with over half your audience in a good

position to judge the accuracy of your statements, any discrepancies will be quickly noted and used to breed distrust of the total presentation.

Some people delight in pointing out the inconsistencies and hypocrisies in drug legislation. So keep the legal aspects of the problem separate. You cannot base your pitch on "You can't do this because its not legal". Law enforcement is a way to deal with the immediate problems of drug abuse. But something more is needed. You're all familiar with the incredible penalties that are and have been associated with marijuana. Today we have perhaps 10 million Americans who smoke marijuana either regularly or occasionally, and perhaps another 10 million who have tried it.

Captain Stevenson will now discuss Federal programs, AF programs, to combat drug abuse.

Earlier in this presentation we reported that our most successful programs were built around films. Because they are so important, then, we have a few additional words.

First of all, no film should generally be used for educational purposes without an introduction. You can mention the purpose of the film, things to look for, or you may suggest questions. Some films serve best as a catalyst for group discussion, so their best use stems from a plan to use them to start an active interchange of ideas.

Secondly, be cautious in your choice of a film. A good rule is to be as wary of films as you would have your audience be of drugs. Don't trust a film to be good just because someone says it is. Preview it yourself! And remember that no film can be right for every situation.

The quality of films varies widely. Many films in circulation have lost their potency thru age. This area has changed dramatically of late and you should be wary of any film made before 1969. This is because many of the older films are so eager to scare people away from drugs that they undermine the credibility of their messages. Of 78 films widely used in DA programs, the National Coordinating Council on DA Ed and Information found 36 "scientifically unacceptable", including all those available from the Air Force. Even those rated "acceptable" contained many inaccuracies. Films which place their emphasis on extreme reactions that may not coincide with the experience of your audience may have should obviously be avoided. It is a crazy imbalance to stress marijuana hallucinations when over 99% of the people who try marijuana cigarettes don't get hallucinations. And it may do great harm. You've all heard of heroin addicts who say "You lied to us about pot, so we didn't believe you about heroin". Also, DA films vary in type. Some take a sociological approach, warning against the loss of income, status, dignity, and freedom attendant to imprisonment. Some of them are purely descriptive of drugs and their effects. Some show in great detail how drugs may be abused. Some project a tone of moral outrage. Some deal with one drug, some with a broad spectrum of drugs.

What I am trying to point out is that DA films vary as much as audiences and you must bring the two together to have a successful program. Obviously, rural junior high school students will find little to identify with in a film about big city junkies. And ghetto blacks will do little besides cackle at the drug problem of an affluent, blond, sports car driving Campus King.

Capt. Stevenson will now introduce the Alpha drug abuse slide set. This visual aid lacks some of the problems attendant to the use of films since it can be custom fit to your presentation.

Apha slide set. 10:00.

We would now like to present what I consider to be our most successful DA program. This talk was originally prepared last February for a local PTA group which asked the Chief of Pediatrics and I to speak.

This talk is included here to not only give you first hand experience with what we believe to be the highest state of the art, but also to let you judge for yourself how well this successful talk fulfills the guidelines and philosophies we have presented to you.

Talk/Film "Beyond LSD."

Put yourself in the position now of the parent of a first thru 6th grade college. One of the most alarming new problems on the national scene is the growth of drug abuse. Only a few years ago, if the public thought about DA at all it was in terms of the hard core heroin user romanticized by popular fiction. The user

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