Superintendent’s Chat

Richard McClements, Shonto Preparatory School

Other than 9/11, probably the worst thing that has happened to America in the past 35 years is the fact that so many lives have been tragically ruined by people taking that first experiment with a narcotic. People foolishly think that they are in control and can stop anytime they want. Our graveyards and prisons are filled with those who were wrong. Addicts to drugs become a slave to that next high, and they will sacrifice anything - family, spouse, job, or their honor to get that next one.

There is a new drug on the market that is the horror of horrors. It is methamphetamines. The Navajo Nation admits that it is already here, and it is both deadly and highly addictive. Please do not even try this drug once. Recently, middle and high school students were given an informational program on methphetamines. Fourteen people in nearby Tuba City died last year from methamphetamine causes.

When I went to high school and college, no one that I knew of used any form of narcotic. We understood that some used pot or heroin, but that was always off somewhere in the big city. Drugs are now found in every village and city in America. Crime has soared as a result.

During the coming years, each of you will be challenged by someone who wants you to “try it just once.” It always starts out that way. It may even be free the first time. But if you take it, the person who gave it to you will be smiling, knowing that you are soon to become a paying customer. But when it is offered, each time, you must say, “no,” and you must say it over and over again. You must say it throughout school, in college, at parties, and when you face the troubles and tribulations when you are adults. You must never stop saying it. The day you don’t, is the day your life will never be the same.

Part of your ability to say no will depend upon the situations you allow yourself to be placed in. If you have a good friend who is a seller or a user, I would suggest that you distance yourself from him or her. The seller doesn’t give a hoot about you. It is your addiction that he or she wants to accomplish and your steady money supply when you are hooked. If you have a boyfriend or girlfriend who uses and encourages you to do so, end that relationship immediately. If you are depressed about something major in your life, find someone you know who cares about you and talk to them.