Nation of Mike: Searching for a path forward – Daily Record-News

In the transition summer between grade school and middle school, I had this discussion with both of my sons.

A friend, someone youve played with and hung out with will try drugs and may even offer you drugs, I said.

I did so theyd understand that drug users were not foreign invaders, or evildoers lurking in the shadows. Theyd be people they played baseball, basketball or soccer with, or maybe attended a birthday party. They might even be their buddies.

I recalled the shock I felt in junior high when Jack, a kid I knew from youth football, was assigned the locker next to mine. Jack and I always got along at football. We spent a lot of time on the sidelines together, sharing similar anti-authority views. The school was massively overcrowded so I was happy to see a familiar, friendly face.

But the first few times I said hello, hed grunt and turn away. Kids changed in junior high, slipping into different skins, angling to be part of the cool crowd. Knowing I was doomed to never accomplish that (my hair refused to feather and my wardrobe consisted entirely of pastel-colored Toughskins), I let it go.

Then one day, Jack said, Hey, just thought Id let you know Im selling drugs out of my locker.

He stepped aside and let me see the shelves absent any sign of school materials but displaying an assortment of drugs and drug paraphernalia.

Ill be selling after the last class, he said. You may not want to be around you know in case something goes wrong.

Walking to the bus that day, I remember feeling relief that Jack still thought of me as a friend and sadness that wed never stand together on the sidelines commenting on the idiocy of football coaches ever again. It felt like one of those moments when childhood ends.

I dont know why Jack got involved in drugs, or why any of a number of close friends turned to drugs as junior high led into high school. People who know that are much smarter than I, but I did know that how society treated drugs and drugs users at the time was horrifically wrong.

The War on Drugs. It was declared but as far as I know never ended by an official cease-fire.

Who were we declaring war on? It had to be someone faceless and far off. It couldnt be the people I knew consuming the drugs. They were my friends sweet-natured and goofy and prone to making some really bad choices.

Of course, the War on Drugs implied there would be casualties. Those people I did know, like my former brother-in-law who ODd on heroin while in the parking lot of a methadone clinic.

Were these acceptable loses some unknown number of lives sacrificed to achieve the greater goal of victory declared and the forces of evil rebuffed?

It would be nice if we had learned from the missteps of the 1970s-80s, but here we are in the summer of 2021 watching young people in our community die from drug overdoses.

Obviously, the drugs are deadly literally poison. Why would someone consume that? I did not know in 1976 and I do not know today.

I just know the loss, everybody feels the loss. Where does this empty feeling lead us?

To understanding, maybe? Drugs (of the illicit, street variety) are bad. Drug users arent bad. But theyre criminals, right? Its illegal to possess and consume drugs weve deemed illegal a shifting distinction over the years.

Illegal is hidden until the outcomes cannot be ignored. The drugs consumed are of unknown origin and ingredients. It makes all our mistakes not just costly, but potentially fatal.

The path forward has to be different than the path weve followed, otherwise, we will continue to wonder why with each life lost.

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Nation of Mike: Searching for a path forward - Daily Record-News