Students for Sensible Drug Policy debunk common myths about drugs and substance use disorder

By Gabriella Pinos

“Everyone uses drugs. Every single person, whether it’s prescription drugs, alcohol or Robitussin,” Luis Montoya, outreach coordinator for Students for Sensible Drug Policy, said in a recent interview.

Active in the Southeast and Southwest regions of the U.S., Montoya helps SSDP chapters across 14 different states change the policies surrounding drugs in their area. He, along with his fellow FIU officers, wants to educate the university on substance use by campaigning for sensible ballot initiatives and providing students with the tools and support they need to push for policy reform.

Since their inception in 2011, SSDP at FIU have dispelled the myths they commonly hear on college campuses, from addiction to drug use to treatment. The concept of addiction itself, they pointed out, is one of the most common misconceptions they hear when speaking with students.

“People believe that using a drug every day means that you are addicted to it,” Morgan Duncan, president of SSDP at FIU, says.

Instead, SSDP uses the term “substance use disorder,” which removes the negative stigma often associated with addiction. Meeting people with SUD where they are at, according to Montoya, is the best way to help people overcome it.

“Substance use disorder is humanizing,” Montoya says. “When you boil somebody down to their addiction or call them an addict, you are completely neglecting that they are an entire human being.”

Another popular myth on college campuses is the difference between a hard drug and a soft drug, which SSDP says is nonexistent.  

“There’s no such thing as a difference between a soft and a hard drug,” Montoya says. “In fact, when people refer to a hard drug, they just mean a drug that they won’t use themselves.”

Duncan believes that this hierarchy of drugs creates a negative stigma around substances such as heroin or meth. Nathan Carr, vice president of SSDP at FIU, says that there are many positive aspects of substance use that do not have to do with addiction.

“There’s a myth that using drugs, in a sense, is bad,” Carr says. “If you look at the medical benefits of certain substances such as cannabis, you can see that that’s not true.”

Among one of the most misunderstood drugs in the public eye, Montoya says, is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is about 10 times stronger than heroin. He and Duncan have debunked the claims that fentanyl can cause an overdose if a person simply touches it.

“People are claiming that cops are overdosing off opening a car that smells like it, and that’s not how fentanyl works,” Duncan says. “It has to come in contact with the mucus in your body, like your nose or your throat.”

Because of this, Duncan says, it is important to recognize the medical benefits drugs such as fentanyl have for patients. Doing so helps separate the drug from its negative connotation.

This same stigma surrounds psychedelics, such as acid and ecstasy, that are often perceived as party drugs. Duncan says that these substances are used to treat people with PTSD, anxiety and depression, among other disorders.

“There’s even this thing now called MDMA therapy, and it’s used to treat mental health conditions such as trauma and depression,” Carr says.

Montoya traces the demonizing of drug consumption back to President Nixon’s “war on drugs” campaign in 1971, where the crackdown on marijuana and heroin led to policies that made most drugs illegal. He associates these policies with racist attitudes towards African American and Asian communities during the Nixon administration, which have been kept alive with the stereotype of a drug-ridden criminal.

By understanding the emotions of people with SUD, Montoya says, it is easier to dismiss these perceptions and help people overcome their disorder. Dissociating the addiction from the addict will help the healing process, and people with SUD must be willing to receive treatment rather than be forced to join a rehab center. Carr adds that removing negative stigma towards drugs is just the first step towards recovery.

“Educate yourself before you make assumptions on how drugs can affect you,” Carr says. “If you have someone in your life that has an issue with substances, do your best to understand, love and support them, because that’s what going to help them the most.”

SSDP encourages students to join their cause and consider programs such as IDEA Exchange, where new syringes are provided in exchange for used ones, to help educate people about harm reduction and overdose prevention. Montoya also stresses that paying attention to state-wide policies and the district attorney’s actions is just as important as spreading awareness. Doing so will give a voice to people with SUD in a society where they are disenfranchised.

“Give the victims of the drug war a space,” Montoya says. “Whatever their decisions are when they come together, listen and make sure those things are being put into the ears of politicians and fellow students.

Photo retrieved by Flickr.