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The notion that education is the best weapon against drug abuse is based on the theory that people are doing a logical assessment of the risks and the rewards of drug use.

Now, I can't be sure but somehow I don't imagine a young man sitting at a desk, considering his future:

"Let's see, I can do some cocaine. On the positive side it will make me feel a lot better right now. On the negative side there's addiction, there's the fact that I don't know what it's been cut with, so for all I know I could be about to inject rat poison into my arm, there's also the fact that it's illegal, so there's a chance I'm going to spend the next few years in jail. That seems like a fair tradeoff."

Does that seem likely?

Perhaps, if our imaginary young man didn't know the risks. That might be fixed by education. After all, that's worked remarkably well for alcohol and tobacco. Now that everyone knows about the risks those industries have just collapsed, right?

Now, I will certainly agree that better, more realistic education about the risks of drugs would be good. Personally, after I finished Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE), I had nightmares about being chased by a giant needle, for years.

As long as there's desperation there will be demand. Attacking the supply side has failed.

I don't claim to have an answer, but education hasn't proven to be a particularly successful one.

Learn more about this author, Evan Carden.
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