My teen years were spent in the 1980s.
Leg warmers.
Big hair.
Hair bands.
And let us not forget the "Just say No" campaign.
The Just say No campaign was the brainchild of Nancy Reagan, First Lady of President Ronald Reagan.
It was with one goal- Get kids to say no to drugs.
Cause drugs are bad.
And if it happened to have the side effect of kids turning in neighbors or family for doing drugs, that was just peachy.
My mother said that part reminded her of the Nazis getting kids to turn people in.
People were getting raided for growing basil on their windowsill.
Drug task forces were known to destroy houses and possibly killing dogs all on a phone call.
Not even an "I'm sorry" if they were wrong.
A very big part of the campaign were the assemblies.
Former addicts went around to high schools telling their stories.
I can't tell you how many of those I sat through.
I even have a Just say No button somewhere..
Schools spent a good chunk of change bringing these speakers in.
In the end, did it change anything?
Maybe.
Most likely not.
Many of my friends that were so big on the Just say No stuff turned out to be the biggest drug users in the school.
Nothing like now.
When I was in high school, you couldn't just go to a party in your small town and find some pot or cocaine.
You had to go to the bigger towns. the ones that had stop lights.
Now, you can just walk up to the park and get stoned.
Ruth you probably will not believe it but when I was first asked to attend a pot party -I was maybe 14-15--- anyway I actually thought-how boring-I thought it was something like Tupperware :)
ReplyDeleteLynn, that's funny. But, I bet your parents are glad you didn't want to go.
DeleteI was a Teacher's Aide for a class that performed the "Just Say No" skit. It was a cutesie little musical with lines like "No! No! A thousand times no!" and "Dare teaches kids not to say 'yes.'" What kind of a rainbow, druggie world was Nancy living in that she thought all it takes is saying "no" to win the war on drugs?
ReplyDeleteRobyn,that Nancy... she's special.
DeleteMaybe drugs are fun but I'm with Nancy - I'm proud that I always had a courage to say 'no'. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteEvalina, This and that...
EvalinaMaria, You should be proud that you said no to something that isn't good for you.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend!
Funny. On the front page of the local paper is an article about fighting drugs, former addicts, marijuana busts at the high school...
ReplyDeleteI knew this town was 30 years behind.
Susie, you might want to make sure you have no herbs in plain view of other houses. Just in case.
DeleteIf someone is going to want to try something, they are going to try it regardless of whatever campaign is used to get them not to. Son went through all such things in school and still chose to try marijuana. I said no years ago because I didn't want to take the chance of something bad happening, you always heard the horror stories of kids that used drugs. I didn't want to be a statistic.
ReplyDeletebetty
Very true, Betty
DeleteAre you sure that you're not from Mayberry? I can't imagine a town without stoplights. There's always something that we're supposed to say 'NO' to. Maybe the words have changed, but the list has gotten longer .
ReplyDeleteJulie
Julie, Iowa has lots of towns without stoplights. When they talk about one-horse towns, I am pretty sure they are referring to my fine state. You are right about the longer list, it's pretty sad.
Deletethis girl I was in love with invited me to a birthday party, I was young still not driving yet and I asked her if she needed a ride... my father could pick her up and take us both. I was a dork, I was a dork... repeat. I showed up early by myself, nope she wasn't with me... my father said this is not the type of party I was thinking it was going to be... oh there was cake and streamers. I got there around 7pm and was on my way home around 9pm... my dad was right. I skipped a lot of the events didn't I... I blocked most of what I had seen, except the vision of this girl I loved guzzling from a bottle of Jack in the doorway to the haze filled basement. I left without any notice... waiting at the corner for my dad, who put his hand on my shoulder... "let's go home"... we never talked about it. Wow, thanks for dredging up this suppressed memory... I am in tears now and thinking about that girl I loved...
ReplyDeleteJeremy [Retro]
AtoZ Challenge Co-Host [2015]
There's no earthly way of knowing.
Which direction we are going!
HOLLYWOOD NUTS!
Come Visit: You know you want to know if me or Hollywood... is Nuts?
Jeremy, You're welcome!?
Deletetrue story, happy ending though.
DeleteWe would score on some beer occasionally, but that was about it. I knew a guy that had pot but wasn't interested.
ReplyDeleteLike you say, nowadays you can get it out of the gumball machine at the local Big Boy restaurant.
Jeff, when I was 18, I couldn't tell you what pot smoke smelled like. Now, my daughter is 18 and she not only knows the smell, she smells it on kids on a regular basis.
Delete