Stop The Blame - Campaign

The Real Arklow Against Drugs... task force

R - relevant
E - educational
A - artistic
L - local

Crash Course in recreational drug.... addiction reduction/new user prevention  Straight Honest advise

Our children are experimenting with hard drugs. They will continue to do so no matter what we teach them. No matter how much we punish them for stepping out of line, so we need to first take an honest look at what drugs are available, what ones will be available, and the effects of each drug. We need to openly and honestly examine our own behavior. What drugs do we abuse? What do we deem as respectable behavior?
 

Below are a list of drugs openly available in my town. If they are available in my town they are either in yours or on the way.
Our advice to our children must be Stay away from all drugs until your brain has finished developing. The closer we get to 21 years of age, the more chance we have of not becoming dependent long term on any drug/habit.

However presently I don't really blame yongpeople who experiment because if you are not into sports in Arklow for example... there isnt much else to do. Unfortunatly our government decided that sports and arts facilities should have to compete for funding and art in communities got left behind. I particularly sympathise with those who have left school early or are from a lower social class..... I didnt leave schools early but I was one of a tiny percentage of socially disadvantaged students in the early 90's that went on to third level... starved litrally through 3 years of college... to be 1 of a tiny percent of the original tiny percent to actually complete a degree... which now is deflated immensly and means nothing when I apply for a job.... For me growing up in Arklow as someone who was born an artist and a thinker and an innovator, life was dull.... people were dull... Arklow was dull... and still is.  Nothing stimulated me positively. I never felt like I belonged here and because I came from a lower class I never really got exposed to any other way of thinking. My natural artistic ability saw me through the last few years of my emotional development as a teenager and although I did try drugs at age 16 or so and liked it, I also liked art and had ambition enough to get a degree before I started drinking on a regular basis. It was the fact the I wanted to return to Arklow after college and the fact that I saw no place for me as an artists in Arklow which fed my alcohol dependency. From alcohol I moved onto cannabis, xtc speed and cocaine. I never moved onto heroin and gave cocaine up soon after trying it because I was old enough before starting to know that addiction was likely. I was informed.
My general rule of thumb when asked for advice by parents of teenagers who have either found their kids intoxicated or suspect that their kids are experimenting is to be open and honest with themselves and their kids. To re-examine their actual knowledge of the 3 main recreational drugs available to their children. To accept that for now they must expect the possibility that their children will experiment with at least 1 of the 3 most popular drugs available. My advise to these kids is to stay away from the ones that can kill you. Its as simple as that.
Every year the junior cert exams finish and results come out. Both of these occasions are cause for celebrations. Lots of our kids choose these times to experiment for the first time.

Cigarettes have been around for years and we all know how the tobacco companies covered up the dangers of smoking for years. I don't think I need to explain to anyone what the bad side effects of this past time are but I will anyway.
The smoking of cigarettes has been linked to cancers and these cancers cause DEATH.

Next Alcohol.
Alcohol when used on a regular basis by people under the age of 21 and by kids as young as 8 years of age surveyed recently, will stunt the emotional growth of the individual. In lay terms basically those...including ourselves.... who have relied on the consumption of alcohol to dispel shyness and social awkwardness, and to boost self esteem have stopped emotionally developing since the age we started using alcohol. So there are lots of 30, 40 and 50 year olds out there that basically have the emotional age of an adolescent! So when times get tough in our lives and things go wrong which is inevitable...we don't know how to cope, we don't have the tools, the emotional tools, to cope with our problems, so we turn to alcohol. Alcohol is the perfect anesthetic but it never solves our problems, it often exasperates them. After a session on the drink we have less money, possibly a tense home life, and have often insulted at least 1 person along the way.
Alcohol causes violent behavior towards ourselves, other citizens, our families and quite often those we love the most. Driving while drunk causes Death. Overdose on alcohol is possible and DEATH has often resulted.

CANNABIS

Can you estimate how many people die every year from using this drug?

Nobody. Not 1. Ever. That's right, nobody has ever been recorded to have died from cannabis overdose. Thats not to say they havent tried to find stats to prove that it is lethal.

Available in many forms such as hash, marihuana herb (grass) and cannabinoid (chemical replica) sprayed herbs available from Head shops nationwide. Ill go through each 1.

Hash.
Hash is solid in form and varies in colour from yellowish to brown to very dark brown, almost black. The mainstream hash obtainable on Irish streets and in Arklow is called 'soap'. It is an extremely low grade hash. Some common ingredients added to this soap are
Ketamine (horse tranquilizer)
shoe polish
faeces (shit)
aspirin
benzine
bichumen (tar)
barbiturates

Obviously doesnt sound too healthy. Many carcinogenics in that list and thats not including the nicotine that is generally mixed to make the joint.

Marihuana herb (grass)

This can be home grown in secret. The owner knows exactly what was used to grow the plant. It is safe health wise but totally illegal and penalties can be high particularly if the grower is supplying. You would be surprised and shocked at the range of people who grow and smoke 'weed' without supplying others. This is the most natural type of cannabis available in Ireland, but there isnt a huge quantity on our streets for sale.
There is grass for sale on the streets quite often and some of it is very potent and grown using special lights and insulation systems. It is an expensive and very risky process for the grower and to make it more worth while when the product is finished, it can often be sprayed with the following substances to create extra weight and therefore earn more money,
led
fibre glass
silica gel
sand

Lastly the smoking products available in Head Shops.
These products are manufactured by spraying assorted herbs like mint, sage and loads of others with the chemical copy of the parts in the cannabis which cause the 'high'.
There are hundreds of psycho active agents in cannabis. The one most people know is THC. This agent and its chemical copy is pretty much illegal but there are hundreds of others that work equally as well on the thousands of receptors in the human body. The stuff in the head shop is sprayed with different compounds of these psycho active agent copies. And has the same effect as the real stuff.

These active agents have different effects on the body and mind. They have a generally bad reputation but again nobody has ever died from using this drug. There is no legislation controlling this product which worries me. Some head shops sell brands produced by firms in counties where there is control and where levels of psycho active ingredients are monitored and tested. Some head shops buy in the compound on its own and use there own herbs. Im not sure but I guess this is a risk.

There is a system of analyzing how potent a drug is. Its very interesting and is called the LD50. http://web.cgu.edu/faculty/gabler/drug_toxicity.htm
its the lethal dose of 50% of test subjects (usually animals)

if an average non-addicted 70 kg (154 lb) person drinks 10 times as much alcohol (330 grams) within a 15 or 20 minute period as is needed to get a "buzz' (33 grams--the amount roughly equivalent to two glasses of wine, shots of whiskey, or cans of beer), then there a substantial risk of death. 

So basically if a person drinks 10 times more than it takes for them to feel the effects of alcohol in 20 minutes they can die and have died...think about those taquilla rounds....

Where as a person would have to smoke in excess of 1000 times more cannabis than it takes to feel the effect of the drug in 20 minutes but even then this is only an estimate as even in the tests on rats...it has NEVER actually happened.

Now lets look at any benefits these drugs potentially have. Alcohol when used occasionally and moderately starting after the age of 21 when the brain of the average human model has finished developing and they have learned enough tools to see them through tough periods of their lives can have great effects. It relaxes the body and mind making conversation and interaction easier and more enjoyable. But thats basically it. If the person drinks too much or hasnt eaten enough they become repetitive and lets face it annoying to say the least.

Cannabis on the other hand has shown to improve the symptoms of over 200 illnesses. These include to name but a few arthritis, rheumatism, rheumatoid arthritis, any muscle wasting diseases, it can completely eliminate nausea and vomiting after chemo and radio therapy. Contrary to popular belief that it causes schizophrenia cannabis is made up of agents, some that can aggravate schizophrenia and and equal amount of others that have the opposite effect, relieving schizophrenia. The same is true of depression. But in no circumstance has anybody died. Ever.

I think the safest drug to experiment with is home grown weed. Grown by your own hands but this is illegal. Baring that in mind I would go for the stuff in the head shop that isnt made in Ireland and comes in a tamper proof packaging. Also very important...if you dont smoke tobacco then use herbal cigs available in health shops.

The Gateway Theory

I hope the government does legislate on this product soon but I don't have faith that they will honestly look at the full picture. For that reason I hope they don't bother. The main reason why cannabis is often a gate way drug is because its the first drug on the normal progression of experimentation that isnt always available. Our kids or some of you reading this will decide to try cannabis at the age of 15 or younger. Because it is illegal they obtain it from dealers. The type of dealer you may encounter selling hash for example in such small quantities aimed at these younger clients are usually older guys that have left school early, usually due to intellectual difficulties not picked up in time who fall in with 'the wrong crowd'. Because of their usually under average learning can be easily manipulated into doing the dirty work in turn for enough smoke for themselves. But the problem is that the cannabis isnt always available due to crack downs and raids and when it isnt available these guys offer tablets such as zanex. You must remember that at some stage in the process of their own progression someone offered them zanex too.

These prescription drugs are usually opiates and yes they do get you high but they are super addictive and before you know it you have a heroin addiction...before you even know what heroin is. We need to take the prescribed drugs off the streets, not by forces as this wont work but by reducing the demand. By reducing the demand for all these things we take our power back. We need to support the dealers as well as the buyers into an alternative lifestyle. We need to give them something to fill the void that their drugs of choice filled with something creative and therapeutic. THE ARTS.

Another popular drug that should be included is XTC. Available in tablet form mainly and a similar drug can be purchased in Head shops. I don't advise the use of this drug to anybody with low self esteem as dependency is likely and withdrawals can be extreme and death is possible and has happened although the deaths have been over sensationalised by  media coverage. I apolagise to family and friends of all those who have died from drug overdoses... my heart is honestly with them...  but with education on harm reduction we can prevent these deaths....

As I said, stay away from the drugs that can kill you and leave the experimentation to as close as you can to 21 years of age. Give yourself a chance in life and there will be plenty of time to experiment when you are physically, emotionally and psychologically in a better place to make possible life changing decisions.

If you support me... contact me... if you need support...contact me... if you need advise... contact me and pass my number onto your friends. 087 968 36 58...

Join my campaign

visionz@livemicgigs.com

STOP THE BLAME – BE PART OF THE SOLUTION

Our communities are divided. Our country is in trouble. Our children face threats we never imagined possible. Who can we blame?

Our Government?
The Banks?
Society?
Parents?
Drug dealers?
The nature of humanity?
Environmental factors?

Political oppression?

Yes we can blame some/all of the above for our individual problems or challenges but where will it get us?

It will divide our communities further.

Is there an answer?
Is there hope?
Is there any point in trying?
Can we do anything to help?

The answer to all these questions is YES! Definitely YES!

Whats the first step?

Rebuild our communities.

Whats the easiest way to do this?

Through the Arts.

Definition of art.

This is difficult. Art is a very difficult thing to define apparently. Personally as someone who sees themselves as an artist I feel like I know what art is. So I've defined it for myself. Its open to discussion of course as is art itself.

ART Art is something original produced by human hand or mind with the intention of provoking emotion and/or attention.

Anything can be artistic.

An Artist The producer of art as defined above. A contributor to any part of the process of making the art with the same intention of provoking emotion/ attention.

Through the arts we can tackle issues such as

• Community Inclusion/Integration
  
• Community Cohesion
  
• Social Awareness
  
• Social Division
  
• Environmental Awareness
  
• Bullying in schools/workplace
  
• Early school leaving
  
• High Crime Rate
  
• New Addicts
  
• Family Feuding
  
• gang wars
  
• Domestic Violence
  
• Incidents of Suicide
  
• Depression
• Addict Rehabilitation

A Community Style Arts venue run by arts professionals which are open to all members of our society and doubles up as a drop in centre where people at risk can hang out and ....

• be inspired to paint
  
• sing
  
• learn an instrument
  
• stay in/return to education
  
• be empowered
  
• meet other non-mainstream respectable people
  
• meet those who survived their private hell
  
• attend seminars and gigs
  
• find their place in the world

Stats – for those that need proof!

In the recent Arts Council’s publication, The Public and the Arts, 2006

They investigated factors which influence participation in the arts in Ireland and discovered new findings with regard to the effects of a variety of socio-economic and demographic facts on people’s involvements in the artistic life of the community. It shows that social class, income, and especially educational attainment are stronger factors than earlier reports have indicated. In other words, for those already disadvantaged by low income and inadequate education, there is the additional disadvantage of being cut off from the powerful personal effects of the arts. People with lower educational attainment, social class and income are many times less likely than their fellow citizens to attend a range of arts events, including plays, art exhibitions, music events, and even mainstream films and street theatre. They are also many times less likely to read any kind of literature.
The report also shows that women are over twice as likely as men to attend plays, musicals, art exhibitions and classical music events; and to read novels and poetry. Meanwhile those aged over 45 are much more likely to attend no arts events at all.
Attendance at arts events by people across the social spectrum in cities were the most likely followed by the more rural of our communities Followed by our urban towns. People in urban towns of lower educational attainment are least likely to attend these events.

This was the subject of a recent National Economic and Social Forum report

The Arts, Cultural Inclusion and Social Cohesion: Report No 35 2007

The NESF believe that “Cultural inclusion is an equal right to participate in the nation’s artistic
and cultural life – to enjoy art, to make art, to participate in decisions about art, to comment vigorously on art – to be active cultural citizens. It can thus be thought of as a fundamental democratic right – alongside the right to education and to participate in the formal democratic process.
From a psychological perspective, the arguments in favour of cultural inclusion are strong. The urge to make meaning, the desire to express and master experiences through self expression, and the urge to connect with other human beings through that self expression are a profound part of human nature. Cultural expression can be understood as the outgrowth of the urge to play and to fantasise – itself as powerful a driver of learning and development as formal education is. Children learn the most important lessons about life through play: how to bond, to communicate, to act as a group, to conquer fear, to heal traumas, to create something through play. The same can be said for art.”

The report found that people of lower educational attainment and lower income were more likely to attend arts events when they were held in community style venues.

Activities proposed for Live Mic – Live Arts Centre

Live Mic Amateur Visual Artists

-open to anyone in education including youth reach, fas, community colleges, secondary school and 6th class of primary school, and third level including mature students.
-A passionate interest in any form of art including drawing, painting, cartoons, photography, literature, writing, song writing, acting, graffiti, media and so on is necessary.
-Spaces will be available to those successful candidates who show adequate potential/ability. -Opportunity to see real visual artists at work.
-Exposure to multi-disciplinary arts

Live Mic Amateur Band
-open to people with musical ability/potential in education.
-intended to provide free promotion and guidance for young artists who are interested in producing original work. With the promise of support gigs for more acclaimed artists when they are ready for such exposure.

Live Mic Amateur Crew
- open to anyone with an interest in events production and in full time/part time education

Numbers of places on these programmes will depend on funding.

The Live Arts Venue will be for everyone and I can promise a host of internationally acclaimed artists will perform for and visit the project. It will liven up our town, it will create a safe environment for our citizens to question social behavior and trends, re-examine their own thought processes, be exposed to high quality arts events in a community style centre and meet other like minded people. It will bring sustainable trade and tourism to our town and will alleviate some of the biggest threats to our society today – the introduction of the drug CRACK to our streets.
Action needs to be taken NOW.