Why Just Say No Means Just Say Yes

Why the “Just Say No” Approach increases cannabis consumption

How "Just Say No" Turned a Generation to "Just Say Yes" from CannabisNet on Vimeo.

Current generations would never truly understand the full force of the government machine in relation to their “Just Say No” campaign. The brainchild of Nancy Raegan, the “Just Say No” campaign was aimed at deterring ‘America’s youth’ from the ills of cannabis. Every now and then you’d see a commercial glaring on the television with shady cannabis pushers trying to taint he souls of the innocent by having them smoke “the Devil’s weed!”

Schools were plagued by “anti-drug” talks that regurgitated unscientific premises to dupe children into believing that marijuana was as dangerous as heroin…if not more dangerous! Smoking cannabis was almost equated to shitting on God’s mercy.

Kids today, while we still have “drug education” never experienced the full prohibitionist hard on known as the “Raegan Years”, where lies were perpetuated without consideration and the message of “Just Say No” was bored into the deep conscious of every adult breathing today.

The problem with this approach was that it didn’t deter anything, in fact, the 80s-90s had some of the highest drug use among the youth in the history of the US. And there is a psychological reasoning behind it. In fact, if you understand how conscious programming works…you’d even think that the government wanted kids to do drugs at a higher rate.

Let me explain…

Why “Just Say No” means “Just Say Yes”

It is impossible for a person to not think of anything. Whenever someone asks you to ‘not’ think of something, your mind will automatically think of the thing first, then try to erase it.

Let me provide you with an example;

DO NOT THINK ABOUT KITTENS WITH NUN CHUCKS

Whether you want to or not, the first image that will pop into your head is the interpretation of the concept “Kittens with nun chucks”.

This is because within the subconscious mind the concept of “no” doesn’t exist. Your brain first requires a point of reference prior to being able to execute the second command of “not doing it”.

This is why when you tell someone “Don’t look down” they immediately look down. They first have to acknowledge that “down” exists and then can only process to “not look there”.

So for your subconscious mind the command “Don’t look down” would be interpreted as “Look down, don’t”

Understanding this principle, when someone tells you “don’t do drugs” your brain interprets the command as “do drugs, don’t”.

It’s a positive reinforcement of a negative concept. This is something we all are guilty of. If you want to become more efficient in your communication this is something that you should learn. Speak in the positive present and you’ll have much more efficiency in getting your message across.

The government’s approach to “just say no” only achieved to reinforce the very concept they wanted to deter by excessively hammering in their message and instructing the subconscious mind of the youth to actually do drugs.

Their program would have been infinitely more effective if they reinforced concepts that deterred kids from doing drugs in the first place. “Keep your mind clear” or “Protect your body” would have had a much more significant impact on deterring kids. This is because you’re reinforcing concepts of “maintaining control” coupled with “how drugs make you lose control” would instruct kids to stay away from it and “protect themselves” from external elements that might make them lose control.

Of course, the ideas I’m trying to communicate is far more intricate than this, but I can’t go into the finer details as this would take up a book’s worth of content. If you’re interested in learning about it, start reading books like “The Structure of Magic” and the “Magician’s Apprentice”. These are not “magical” books but rather deal about neuro-linguistic programming or NLP for short.

It’s a fascinating concept and when you begin to understand the principles on how we program our own minds, you’ll understand how the anti-drug campaigns of old only worked to reinforce drug habits in the minds of the malleable youth.

How to Really Deter the Youth from Taking Drugs

While I am an advocate for liberty, I believe we should be responsible in our approach. Kids, shouldn’t be taking mind-altering substances, not because ‘their brains are still in development’ but rather because they lack a deeper understanding of “self” within this world.

They are still molding their identities and their formative years are crucial in cementing “who they will be” for the rest of their lives. Thus, for me, kids shouldn’t do it until they can answer the question to a certain degree “Who am I”.

But prohibition doesn’t work. We have more than 80 years of prohibition on the books and it simply isn’t working. The way we try to sweep our problems under a rug of ignorance only results in having ignorant drug users.

We know that laws don’t deter people from experimenting from their consciousness. Understanding that there is no way to sway someone from experimenting or not, we can only manage the problem.

We do this with proper drug education. We explain the “self” the “Ego” and the chemical compositions of the drugs and their interaction with our systems. We teach them proper use, dosage and what to do when shit goes wrong. We make them become critically aware of the substances and do not prohibit it but rather explain why it’s best to wait until they are older.

Of course, some teens will still consume drugs….this cannot be stopped. But what can be stopped is reckless drug consumption that endangers the lives of the youth due to prohibition teaching ignorance over facts.

So in that case…”Just Say No” to “Just Say No”