"Fix the Scioto County Problem of Drug Abuse" Changes Face

I've attempted to seek some value for continuing the Facebook group, and I have yet to find an answer for this. Most of the information we present on the group site goes unread by our large membership. To keep a reservoir of up-to-date, pertinent information is useless if unused. Most who avidly read the site are those who are already active in other groups anyway. In short, people who contribute good, solid information are posting to thin air.

The small semblance of activism grown from the site is too minute to effect needed immediate change. If I knew the answer to this problem of activity, I could help make something of my hometown other than an "armpit" of Ohio and a cradle of drug abuse. People here resist change in spite of warning signs clearly in view. They have taken so much abuse and negativity from their surroundings that they, themselves, become willing catalysts to ill fate as if their poverty and bad times are God's will. Need I say it, many in Scioto County actually choose to remain ignorant and let others make crucial decisions, then complain about selfish outcomes.

The group has created some good discussion while attracting diversity in membership; however, our main drawbacks are lack of activity from our many young members and lack of activity from those with a "I would but" attitude not affected by direct contact with drug abuse. Asking people to join a cause against drug abuse produces desired results, but asking these same people to prove their support seems more than the vast majority can do. The people who are, indeed, active, are those with the most personal stakes.

Which brings me to the numbers - we have over 3,400 members in this rural area. These figures are impressive to those who wish to use them; otherwise, they represent just numbers, any numbers really. They could be 34,000 or 34. In actuality, the numbers can be used to effect ideas yet remain ineffective to use. Use occurs only when people react and operate the resources provided by the group.I had really hoped that somehow 3,400 people could blanket an activity or a demonstration in support of the cause. Dreams are always fated to become less spectacular realities.

The citizenry, in general, displays a far different character from people I find most beneficial to my association. To my regret, my loudness and abrupt behavior takes on a "talk down" character to many. I have picked my passions throughout the years and sometimes overextended them to push a point. At times, my faults overshadow my good behavior. I can't shadow the saintly but I respect honesty from even the devilish. I hate to be pushed but enjoy being nudged. And, I won't be quiet about my interpretation of situations - let me be an activist, not a choirboy. Most of all, I love to try to make people think, which now most people find extremely boring.

I began this group out of my respect for Dr. Johnson and my admiration of the tremendous assembly of people I found at my first Scioto County Drug Task Force Action Team meeting. The tremendous efforts of those individuals inspired me. They offered me such great acceptance from such a wide area of expertise that I began to research drug abuse. I thought the "Fix the Scioto County Problem of Drug Abuse" group might widen the area of contact and increase communication for the Drug Task Force. And it did - to a limited extent.

I was never asked to begin this group. I had no real goals and objectives for it. I opened it to members of all walks and all ages. I've tried to maintain quality of information on site. And, I've bristled at those who compared to to Topix or Sentinel-type publications. It has merely existed -- free of charge and free to opinion. Daily updates have been the norm and now it acts mainly as a convenient place to post drug-related meetings. Too bad so few attend.The group has run its intended course.