Just Say 'No'

Or, just say an 'unqualified probably'?

I grew up in the 70s and 80s with scary imagery of drug taking. In Degrassi Junior High – the original Canadian series aired on channel 2, back in the 80s – Shane jumped from a bridge when he was on acid and never walked again. This put a strain on his relationship with Spike, who he fathered their child Emma with, while they were in high school. And then later, in Degrassi Junior High the Next Generation, the narrative was not letting up as Shane is revisited living in in assisted living facility , having never fully recovered from his brain injury.

And then there was the ‘just say no’ to drugs campaign championed by First Lady, Nancy Reagan, to discourage children from using recreational drugs. Launched in 1982, it was spontaneously devised when lil ol Nancy came up with it after she was asked by a student how to handle drug pressure. it was a campaign that was quite frankly, ineffective – it demonised street drugs but gave no focus to the extensive prescription drug abuse problem that grew from the early 80s onwards.

In our teens and early 20s it was all a bit of joke. Before I started high school my neighbour, Beryl, our street’s wise woman – told me that there would be ‘teens’ that would try and make me use drugs. I was frozen in fear, at the thought of this. Who would these kids be? Would they hold me down and make me smoke the hashish? Or spike my sandwich with speed or acid? How would I be enough of anything against the bad kids who were going to force me to imbibe the bongs?

But of course, no such coercion took place. Instead, the naughty teens would cut-class and smoke dope on the perimeter of the oval. I was always only ‘bad teen adjacent’, mostly interested in the kids that were the naughtiest because they were always the most fun, but I was never into being the naughty one myself. In fact, I travelled a very long part of my life without the aid of drugs.

Living in share houses through the 90s - we farewelled multiple friends who died from drug overdose – heroin was the most common cause. And for some others there was serious lifelong mental illness complications. If Degrassi or Nancy had shown us what this really looked like, what lifelong drug addiction looked like, or the deaths of your young friends… maybe things would be different.

And while I laughed along with my friends at the absurdity of ‘just say no’, I think I must have actually been deeply impacted by those campaigns because I never really had any serious dalliance with drug taking through my youths. I loved being around friends who were affected, but I just didn’t go there myself (except for one week in Byron Bay when Bob Marley’s Whalers were in town and I dropped a trip. But let’s not ever speak of that again.)

But enter this new middle to older age time in our lives – where suddenly drugs are now De rigueur. Legal drugs. Amphetamine, cannabis, micro dosed hallucinogens. Where once we were expected to abstain, we’re basically told to ‘just say yes.’ And being one of the reformed ‘just say no’ to drugs’ gals who is ready to embrace this ridiculous about face – I’m confused, alarmed but ready to follow medical advice.

I have teenagers in my life now, who are deeply curious, mildly informed, and living in a world that has developed a more nuanced version of drug safety. But it is hard to discuss drugs - when the farce of government concern and intervention is exposed as a capitalist ruse. What would Nancy do? How would she lead us through this time? How would she advise us to proceed? ‘Just say an unqualified probably I would like the drugs’?