To Change the Drug User, You Must Teach Him

   America, America, I know why you are losing your war on drugs. (At least, it is said you are losing that war.)
  You can lock your drug users up for as long as you like, but once they are free, if they still desire drugs, they are going to take them. If you don't change their desire, you aren't going to change that.
   Now, America, for the most part, you don't even make a good, focused effort to eliminate their desire for drugs. Sometimes, the drug rehabilitation classes are not even held until the time of probation. For the most part, you leave them to pass their time idly in jail instead of using that time wisely to rehabilitate them.
   This, America, is why we are losing our war on drugs.
   Win? How well we accomplish this -- how well we ween them from their love of drugs -- is the crux of the matter.
   I wonder if a study has ever been done of those who quit drugs outside of help from the correction system versus those who quit as a result of passing through our prison system. If there are more who succeed outside the correction system, then surely we should see we are going about it all wrong.
   I do not know for certain that my ideas would work, for they have not been tried. But, I know there are principles of human behavior we should latch onto and use. One is that you have to teach something before it can be learned. We can't expect them to be sitting idly in the cell, and to have it of a sudden click on them: "Oh, all of a sudden, I don't want drugs anymore."
   Another principle is quoted all the time:  "I don't care how much you know until I know how much you care." Prisoners must be taught the reasons they shouldn't want drugs, but they must be taught in a loving and encouraging manner. What if we had jail keepers who were positive and uplifting, who smiled and encouraged the inmates, who daily took all the prisoners aside and asked them how they were doing?
   What if we had jailers who cared? What if we had jailers who, instead of looking down on the inmates as if they were lesser life forms, loved them, and greeted them warmly?
   What if inmates were regularly shown entertaining, well-crafted movies on the dangers of drugs?  Not that it exactly fits that bill, but the film Les Miserables would be a show good for the convict. We learn by example and the story of Jean Valjean changing his life surely should be an example we want before them. Other such movies should be sought out, so the convict is not just getting documentaries, but entertaining, enjoyable movies that teach values. If they are to change their desires, they have to enjoy the process of learning new traits. A diet just of documentaries would soon tire them, but feature films with messages could help change them.
   What about music? It is one of the greatest influences on a person. Give them uplifting music with good messages and make sure some of the songs are catchy, great little tunes teaching against the use of drugs. Now, admittedly there just aren't too many such songs right now, so contract with a few bands and have them produced.
   And, I'd try to spark their interest in societal issues. I'd bring those who wanted to watch the news together each evening, and we would discuss happenings, and talk of ways to make the world better. While that alone would be a good thing, one reason for these news encounters would be to watch for stories where drug use was involved, so I could point out the harm to the inmate. I think of a story from last week, about two men who harnessed a 3-year-old to a backpack with a leash on it and were walking him across the street when the young child tripped. They didn't pick him up and place him back on his feet. Instead, they dragged him the rest of the way across the street, over a curb, and across some wood chips to a tree, where they tethered the leash to a tree so they could be hands free while lighting up a marijuana pipe. I'd reason with the inmates, asking them what they thought. I'd bring up with them that the two men might have been smoking before their walk, earlier in the day, and were already under its influence. I'd suggest to them that dragging a child is not normal behavior and that their decision-making abilities might have been altered by the marijuana. "You've heard of impaired driving?" I'd ask. "Well, this is impaired babysitting."
   I'd talk to them about their own past drug use, having them tell me about times they used it. I'd try to be gentle in pointing out the times when their actions hurt other people, or hurt themselves. I'd especially rejoice when they agreed an incident of drug use had led to harm and they said they wished they wouldn't have done it, for an admission of wrong is the seed of change.
   How does a person know what is wrong unless you teach them? Sticking them in a cell and expecting that the realization will come to them if they just sit there long enough is not going to work. They have to be taught, coached, if you will.  Our jailers should be coaches and our jails should be coaching centers. I am not calling for expensive therapists, though, believe me. The art of talking and reasoning with inmates is something that should not require a college degree. For the most part, it should only require that we hire loving, understanding people as jail keepers.
   We are losing the war on drugs because we value punishing them more than we value changing them. Change that, and perhaps we'll change them.