Northwest Missouri State University - Tower Yearbook (Maryville, MO)

Page 28 text:

it ' s a people problem, not a chemical problem

Page 27 text:

iiugs r A step forward in opening com- munication about drugs, the Re- gional Drug Education Workshop held March 11-12, 18 19, 1971, was planned to give educators and administrators facts about drugs, to inform children, youth, and com- munities of drug problems Highlighting the seminar was the major speaker, Dr David E Smith, (pictured on the opposite page), director of the Haight - Ashbury Medical Clinic in San Francisco. California, who included Drugs and Society ■ among his topics Sponsored by the State Department of Education, the workshop had an attendance of approximately 750- 800 23

Page 29 text:

Three years ago. an MSC student could enjoy a joint in the den of the student union or share it with a friend in the privacy of a dorm room, with little hassle Today, through drug education and exposure, the MSC community is coping with the complexity of these problems Mr Gus Rischer. psychology instructor and member of the Missouri Governors Drug Advisory Council, comments on the MSC drug user — ■ ' When you get down to the nitty gritty of the problem, its a people problem Most kids end up going the drug route because of problems they have had with people, either adults or with their own peer group conflicts in their value systems These are people problems that need to be worked out Drugs don ' t serve much of a purpose that way They temporarily hide things from the person, and when the high wears off there is the problem staring you in the face again You cant stay stoned all the time, even though people have tried to, I have a lot of hope I see kids around here who have been in the drug scene— everything except heroin— who are now leaving it They didn ' t find what they were looking for They are happy with their life now, since they have left drugs Oh. maybe they smoke a joint of pot now and then, but that IS only a social kind of thing They aren t dependent upon it Its more of a relaxing kind of thing for them They ' ve found other things in life to take the place of drugs— to explain life, and to explain situations to them, to help them be creative, or whatever their individual reasons are They didn ' t find any answer in the scene and were kind of unhappy with that, so they re going back to real things in life Was it because of the drug experience They don t know They feel that had they not been involved in drugs they would have their place anyway It ' s just that drugs took a space out of their life that gave them some enjoyment while they were into it But it didn ' t provide the things that they were looking for in life Were developing a group of students on the campus who have been the drug route and are now out of It. who work with me. to talk with kids who need help It tends to help if students can talk to someone who ' s been there There is also a Student Information Center available on the campus Soon to be introduced is a two-unit program to help our students handle drug problems m the pub- lic schools I m not happy with our drug program We should be doing even more for our own people ' 25