Although I was born in the mid forties and spent my teenage years in the sixties, I completely missed the “free love and laid back” era that was the true beginning of the drug scene.

As a teenager, I wasn’t interested in world news so didn’t read the newspapers or even watch much of tv news.  If it wasn’t an article about Elvis or any other of my teenage idols, I wasn’t interested.  Now and again I would see headlines about a “big drug bust in London” or some other large town but drugs, in our small town, meant aspirin or similar.  What was the big deal about that?

Married at nineteen, first baby at 20 and three other children by the age of 23 left both Dave and I with little time to know what was happening outside of our community.  We were too busy trying to make ends meet to worry about much else.  However the world outside was not so simple and drugs were getting to be a problem.

It wasn’t until a few years after we had moved to Canada and our own daughters were approaching their teen years that we actually thought about drugs and their associated problems.

Our oldest daughter was thirteen and about to go into junior high when we attended a parents’ meeting, and heard that drugs were a problem in the school system, we were asked to warn our children about drugs being offered and instil into them to say no.

Luckily, my eldest daughter had a great peer group.  Four of them were almost inseparable and all of them rather innocent, they faced the world as a united front and seemed to avoid trouble right through to adulthood.

The next few years saw our girls get involved with baby sitting and various girls activities, so were busy several nights of the week, but I insisted that two nights of the week we had a family dinner where everyone was expected to be present.  This was not always popular but I hung firm and two nights of every week we sat round the dinner table and discussed events.  Conversations would invariably be centered round current interests and school.

There was the usual scuttlebutt on who had done weird things to their hair, which teacher was “fab” and which girl was a real b—- and made other girls lives miserable.  Quite often included in the conversation would be the news that so and so was pregnant.

At this time I would interject that if this event happened in our home, I would not be taking over as mother to the new arrival.  I had seen friends who had taken on the parenting role, whilst their daughters continued with their education but, wanted my own children to know this was not going to be my attitude.  I had raised four kids, done my bit for motherhood and, quite frankly had had enough.

All of my girls had been advised about the birds and the bees and had been informed of the prevention of filling our nest with new offspring.  Whilst I didn’t condone teenage sexual activities, I was savvy enough to know that I could do nothing to prevent it, so all four girls knew I was in agreement with them being on “the pill” if it was going to be a necessary item.

Dave was not made aware of what our daughters were up to as he still envisioned them as wearing pink frills and lace.  However, the cost of their prescriptions were part of our budget, so I think he just preferred to keep his head in the sand and leave me to deal with things.

Our second oldest daughter did not have a great time at school, she did not make friends easily, was not doing well in class and eventually got placed in a “special class”.  I wish I could have prevented this but it was what the school decided and I had to go along with it.  Her attitude went from bad to worse and she got involved with drugs, soft drugs at first but, later in life she got hooked on hard drugs.  This was a habit she only managed to quit after a near fatal accident, caused by spousal abuse.  The enforced months spent in a hospital bed gave her body the time and opportunity to quit the habit.

As adults, the other girls all confided that they had tried out various drugs but, luckily, none of the other three liked the effect and took it no further.

I have never experienced the effect on myself, but I know that alcohol does not give me much of as thrill. One glass of wine or cider and I feel this huge grin on my face that I cannot get rid of.  My face actually hurts with the stretch of the grin, the next phase is a need to sleep, definitely not the life of the party.  If drugs have this same effect, it would be a complete waste of money.

What does give me a huge ‘high’ is sunshine.  To go out on the deck on a sunny morning gives me a huge boost.  I feel energetic, full of life and completely uninhibited.  I feel like singing, dancing and running.  As my voice is like a rusty hinge, my dancing is anything but elegant and my running days are long past, I make do with deep breathing and just a general feeling of elation.

With all my heart I wish that everyone could feel this way without the use of drugs.  How much less crime there would be if drugs were not an issue, so much less misery and homelessness if addicts did not need to spend all their money on drugs.  What a great way to live if all we needed was sunshine it is free and, in Oliver, it is plentiful.