Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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FEBRUARY 12-18, 2014 UCW 5 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM The shocking death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman of an apparent heroin overdose hit me hard. Not because I knew him, which I did not. And not because I have a special affinity for celebrities, because I often hear and read the names of people of whom I have never heard but who seem to be famous for reasons I do not know. Hoffman's death struck me, because it is such a waste. He was an extraordinarily gifted actor whose characters — good, bad and just plain ordinary, came to life in his portrayals. Truman Capote was one of our nation's most original and most eccentric writers, and Hoffman, though physically much bigger than Capote, made the writer live again for nearly two hours in a film I will never forget. The same was true for Doubt in which he and Meryl Streep went toe to toe in almost every scene. Losing a talent like Hoffman's at the height of his professional skills, not to mention what he meant to those who knew and loved him, to an illegal drug has no redeeming features. As they say in politics, there is just no way to put lipstick on that pig. Substance abuse is a terrible scourge in American society. Sad as it is to admit, I can think of very few families among my friends and acquaintances who have not been affected by the scourge in some form, including my own. Someone's grandfather was an alcoholic. Someone's mother is hooked on prescription medications to the point she is neglecting those she loves the most. Someone's child or young adult craves cocaine, meth and, more and more often these days, the heroin beloved by Hoffman. Apparently, it is not much trouble to acquire these substances either. Anyone with the means can do what Hoffman did — visit an ATM machine and call one's favorite dealer. None of this is new, of course. I have been aware of alcohol abuse since my childhood, and other drugs came onto the scene when I was in high school and college. I watched as some of my contemporaries found themselves in substance trouble of some sort, a habit which they would eventually break or, sadly, succumb to, or legal troubles — Driving While Impaired charges, illegal possession of various drugs and sometimes selling those drugs. The worst cases involved all of those situations, and many of my generation never recovered. They may have kicked, or simply outlived their habits, but their legal troubles kept them from jobs and professions that otherwise could have been theirs. It has taken me a long time to come to this point of view, but I now believe we are doing this all wrong. Something in the human psyche seeks an altered state of consciousness, and every culture from every age seems to have its own drug of choice. Think opium pipes in ancient Asia, mead in medieval Europe, peyote and other hallucinogens in South America, wine from all corners of the globe. They are all different but everyone seems to have had one. Some cultures have tolerated their substances, but others, including ours, have fought and fought to rid ourselves of them, or at least of the people who use and provide them. The United States adopted a Constitutional Amendment to prohibit alcohol in the 1930s, which was so ineffective it was ultimately repealed. Since 1971 when the term was coined during the Nixon Administration, we have had a "War on Drugs," waged both in our own country and in other nations which produce drugs that find their way inside our borders. Our prisons, both state and federal, are bulging at their seams with people incarcerated for all kinds of drug offenses, using themselves and providing drugs to others. Remember that it is you and I, America's taxpayers, who are picking up the tab for all these drug related criminals, providing them three hots and a cot, and hoping against hope that they will walk the straight and narrow when they are released. More often than not, they do not. Ask yourself if what we are doing now is working. Is substance abuse and trafficking declining? Are we successfully saving people from their own inclinations? Ponder as long as you like, but my guess is your answer, at least privately to yourself, is "no." If I had the answer to our national scourge, I would share it and become a beloved figure throughout the world. But I do not have the answer, and neither does anyone else, at least right now. What I have come to understand, though, is that approaching the scourge as purely an issue of crime and punishment is costing bazillions and is not working. The time has come to explore new approaches. Albert Einstein may not have been thinking of our ongoing scourge when he said this, but he nailed it anyway. "The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Albert Einstein Is Right by MARGARET DICKSON MARGARET DICKSON, Con- tributing Writer, COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman is just one example of a life destroyed by addiction. Contest&RequestLine: 910-764-1073 www.christian107.com KeepingtheMainThing...theMainThing. visitusonline FocusontheFamily 20Countdown Magazine Adventures in Odyssey Serving Fayetteville For Over 50 Years! 484-0261 1304 Morganton Rd. Mon-Sat: 6am-10pm Sun: 7am-3pm Celebrate Valentine's Day With Us! Valentine's Day Special Surf-n-Turf for Two $39.95 Reservations Accepted