Ugliness as a deterrent fails to win war on drugs

By Matt Gomez
The Guardsman

Face2Face is a computer program that alters photographs of teen’s faces to show them what they will look like six months to even three years after developing a methamphetamine habit.

While an honest attempt to curb teen drug abuse, Face2Face is nothing more than a scare tactic that insults teens rather than educating them about the dangers of drug addiction.

Sheriff Tom Allman created the program in conjunction with software developer Abalone LLC, which currently sells the program for $2,995.

“Some kids start crying when they see the devastating effect meth can have on their complexion,” Allman told National Public Radio. “It was the way to crack the nut — to say, ‘This could happen to you.’”

The program can mutilate the face of a teenager, or anyone interested, in 3-D. It is a shallow marketing ploy to think that the defining factor in whether or not a person takes meth would be their complexion.

In a country that constantly reminds youth of how unique they are, now they’re also being told they shouldn’t try meth because it will make them look ugly.

Allman said the “this is your brain on drugs” and “just say no” campaigns didn’t work because they used scare tactics to keep kids away from drugs. Maybe he just holds a personal bias because he developed the program, as Face2Face is not any different.

The program is so expensive, it would be an irresponsible purchase for most high schools and teen centers. With education funding being cut left and right, buying Face2Face seems almost as wrong as buying meth.

After the program is purchased, the problem doesn’t just magically disappear. Face2Face is just like a school textbook. It can’t replace a teacher and cannot teach any lessons on its own.

The problem with drug abuse education, though, is that it cannot be taught in a classroom by teachers as if it is just another class. Even the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, which is taught in nearly 80% of U.S. classrooms, is considered to be flawed by Dr. William Hanson, who helped develop the model for DARE.

“DARE was misguided as soon as they adopted our material, because we were off base,” Hansen said, according to The State University of New York at Potsdam Web site. He claimed the formula of the program has never been changed, and that from the beginning DARE has been misguidedly attacking drug abuse.

The DARE program is taught at the fifth- and sixth-grade level, a time when drugs abuse is not a concern for many students. A police officer coming into their classroom telling them about the dangers of drugs isn’t going to help if the students are more concerned about finishing their science homework so they can hang out after school.

The problem with all these attempts to prevent drug abuse is that they operate under the assumption that every child will grow up to abuse drugs.

The effects of drug abuse should be taught during high school when most youth are first being introduced to drugs. Instead of straight talk from a teacher or police officer, former drug abusers should be the people teaching the lessons.

A simulated image is not nearly as effective as the life story of someone who has actually lived through such complexion issues, not to mention some of the more horrifying consequences of hard-core drug abuse.

“George Bush says we are losing the war on drugs,” said the late comedian Bill Hicks. “You know what that implies? There’s a war being fought, and people on drugs are winning it.”