Creating a drug problem where there isn't one

Question: Historically speaking, what is the biggest single cause of drug epidemics among U.S. children?

Answer: Hysterical anti-drug campaigns with silly, ridiculous media stories like this one: "Parents warned of new, legal hallucinogenic drug (April 4, Simi Valley Acorn)."

Reading the article, we find out that there really isn't a local problem with salvia at all. In other words, the basic premise of the article starts as hokum.

Why isn't there a local problem with salvia- even after it has been widely available for many years? The answer is that the stuff just doesn't appeal to most people for very long.

It is a try-it-once-and-forget-it experience for the vast majoritof people. But you won't find thabit of explanation in the article. No yellow journalism is complete without some sort of outlandish story, so we get the storof one apparently very disturbekid who killed himself after taking it. Never mind that this is thonly story of its kind. Nevemind that a modern child is abou50 times as likely to wind udying from alcohol or tobaccthan from any other drug, legaor illegal.

Did you ever wonder how glue sniffing got started? Thinabout it. Glue is such a lous"drug" that it isn't even fair tcall it a "drug." It turns out thatuntil 1959 there was no rearecord of recreational glue sniffing in the U.S. Then, by 1960kids were being arrested by ththousands for sniffing glue- even though there was no law against sniffing glue. So what happened in 195that triggered the glue sniffinepidemic that is still with us today?

You can read the answer ithe chapter titled "How tLaunch a Nationwide Drug Menace" in the Consumers UnioReport on Licit and Illicit Drugat http://druglibrary.org/schafferLibrary/studies/cu/cumenu.htmIt is a tale of ignorant, inflammatory, yellow journalism. Theset out to sell newspapers anwound up giving us a long-term

public drug problem. You knowjust like you.

Clifford A. Schaffer Director, Schaffer Library oDrug Policy Agua Dulce, Calif.