There was lots of information given by Peg Mold. My guess is that some was new to you and some may not have been. Let's have another threaded discussion on your reaction to what she had to say and its implications for you.

-- Anonymous, October 22, 1998

Answers

Even though drugs and youth have been an ongoing topic of concern especially for educators, my knowledge and training has been somewhat limited and spread out over many years. I thought the presentation by Peg Mold was thorough, concise and up to date. She personalized her presentation which always makes it more interesting. Her identification of the factors that influence individual's response to particular drugs was very detailed and logically presented. As she commented, drug-taking behavior is like any other behavior and follow the same rules: It is engaged in to increase pleasure or decrease pain. I was wondering how this relates to another axiom of human behavior and that is we invest much more effort in avoiding pain than seeking pleasure. With drug-taking behavior, does one initially engage in the behavior first to decrease some pain and then when the discovery is made that the drug is so pleasurable, continues it's use?

-- Anonymous, October 27, 1998

Even though drugs and youth have been an ongoing topic of concern especially for educators, my knowledge and training has been somewhat limited and spread out over many years. I thought the presentation by Peg Mold was thorough, concise and up to date. She personalized her presentation which always makes it more interesting. Her identification of the factors that influence individual's response to particular drugs was very detailed and logically presented. As she commented, drug-taking behavior is like any other behavior and follow the same rules: It is engaged in to increase pleasure or decrease pain. I was wondering how this relates to another axiom of human behavior and that is we invest much more effort in avoiding pain than seeking pleasure. With drug-taking behavior, does one initially engage in the behavior first to decrease some pain and then when the discovery is made that the drug is so pleasurable, continues it's use? I've seen many examples of the statement Peg made that a child will stop emotional development at the time they start abusing drugs. This results in the lack of learning necessary social skills to feel comfortable socially. I saw this in many of my students at the prison. I often referred to them as socially retarted (p.c. socially challenged. In the parenting classes I taught, I felt as though I was also parenting them along with teaching them how to be better parents. When I got home from class that night after Peg's presentation, I was talking to my husband about the topic. I said that I can't relate to any drug-taking because that is something I've never experienced. The same goes for him. It's never been something I've been interested in trying. I'm not going to say anything corny like I get high on life - maybe my need to decrease pain or seek pleasure is met by some other method. (I know that method is not running like you, Frank. When I'm done running a long distance it's "give me something to drink and please rub my legs")

-- Anonymous, October 27, 1998