[HANASHIR:2397] Re: Natural Highs

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Jess:  I agree with everything except the part about being in a large
group.  That's hell to me. Emily

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> From: Red Sea Blue <Jess (at) scocon(dot)demon(dot)co(dot)uk>
> To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
> Subject: [HANASHIR:2396] Natural Highs
> Date: Saturday, February 20, 1999 5:58 PM
> 
> Dear Everyone,
> 
> I've been writing stuff recently that I just wanted to share. Whilst not
> obviously about teaching Jewish songs, for me these things are central to
> my work as a song-leader.
> 
> If you feel like reading this I would be really happy to receive
comments,
> feedback (constructive or otherwise!).
> 
> love
> Jess
> 
> 
> Natural Highs - Innovative Anti-drugs Music Work
> 
> Over the last 3 years I, together with my band mates, have developed this
> contemporary Jewish music performance. Over the same time period I have
had
> other ideas germinating, relating to drugs education, young people and
> music which are now coming into the foreground.
> 
> The Limitations of Contemporary Drugs Education
> 
> Although there are different models of anti-drugs and anti-smoking
> education the 'Just say no' scare tactics, ie 'drugs will kill you so
don't
> use them' approach seems to have been proved to not work. Most young
people
> who use drugs have friends who also do and they appear reasonably
healthy,
> so if you try to tell them that the next drug they use will kill them,
they
> lose respect for you and won't listen to what you have to say.
> 
> What is happening more in England and I think in America also, is that
> there is an acknowledgement that a lot of young people are smoking and
> using drugs, so therefore you have to educate with a harm reduction
> approach.  So educators are advised to give young people information on
how
> to use drugs 'safely', ie instructing them to use clean needles and drink
> water whilst dancing, in order that they don't dehydrate.
> 
> They also ironically are teaching them about drugs and what sensations
they
> will get by using drugs. They are showing them no alternative routes to
> having a 'good time'. So it is not surprising that when given the options
> of either:-
> 
> The pleasure of drugs with limited side effects
> or
> no pleasure
> 
> so many choose the former.
> 
> Ecstatic Highs are Healthy - but only if Attained Naturally
> 
> Through my work with young people, and my experience as a dancer and a
> musician, I have concluded that young people have discovered a quick and
> apparently harmless way (in most of their eyes) of achieving a state
which
> is in fact an almost natural one to attain. This is the reason why
illegal
> and potentially highly dangerous drug use is so widespread amongst the
> young. When these states are attained naturally they are in fact life and
> health enhancing.  To experience ecstatic highs is good for you. It
> increases heart beat, often it is exercise related, dancing etc. It
> releases, happy hormones (adrenaline, endorphins etc.) into the blood, it
> can be a way of releasing tension and therefore making you more relaxed.
> This last point gains significance in a society like our own where high
> levels of stress are a significant problem for the adult population.
> 
> The Process of Natural Highs
> 
> Therefore when looking at the issue of young people and drug use, we
could
> even be congratulating them on identifying this important aspect of long
> term health needs! What is more difficult to get across is how external
> drugs don't work with the body, but in fact work against the body. We
then
> need to be clarifying how the body makes its own drugs which can make you
> feel high and happy, and why they have a positive effect on mood. We
should
> be teaching the process of natural highs, in the same way that they are
> taught the process of reproduction. So what situations stimulate the body
> to start releasing these various natural opiates into the blood? Being
> relaxed, being with friends, listening to familiar and pleasant music,
> exercise, dancing, being in a large group etc., having something to
> celebrate. We should teach this so that young people understand it, in
the
> same way that we teach about photosynthesis.
> 
> 

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