Drugs: a serious low

The season of goodwill will soon be upon us, with time for a break from the hurly burly of life, and time to relax with family.

For some though, it’s the “silly season”, non-stop partying, where drugs and liquor are the order of the day.

One reads on a daily basis about judges and magistrates having to deal with breaches of common decency, which seem to peak at this time of the year.

So here are the comments of one exasperated judge when sentencing a youth to a term of imprisonment for such an offence:

“Do you know who is going to serve this sentence?

“Not only you. Your father and mother will serve it. Your body is in the cells for a year, but their souls are tormented for a lifetime.

“... your father and mother have put their lives, their hearts, their sweat, their money and everything else they have into making you a worthy citizen of this country.

“Now they have to sit in this court and listen to a total stranger who had nothing to do with your upbringing berate you and put you in prison.

“This is a period when frivolous kids of your age are yelling ‘you adults have your alcohol, we want our drugs’.

“You have polluted our water and air, you have polluted this and that and the rest of the rubbish that comes out of your mouths ...

“I want you to think of this during your time in prison and the reason why I say it.

“If you are sick, a doctor will treat you and he won’t be high on drugs.The lawyer who represents you won’t be high on drugs and the people in whose custody you will be in won’t be high.

“But in the world of the future, the same may not be true.

“Teachers, doctors, lawyers, legislators, engineers, products of a drug-oriented generation may well be high as kites.

“You won’t know to whom to send your children or in whom to trust your life.

“Let’s see what kind of life you leave your children before you talk about the world we left to ours.”