The Yellow Rose Mission to End the War on Drugs

The Yellow Rose Mission was founded in December 2006 by Richard Gicomeng to facilitate an improved understanding and acceptance of drug use as normal behavior for members living in a chemical society while it's major objective is the prevention of learned behaviors that become pathological disorders associated with the misuse and abuse of drugs including prescription medications, illicit drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and household chemical substances that directly or indirectly cross the blood-brain barrier to produce changes within the brain, particularly on the hypothalamus. The Mission also focuses on pathological gambling and addictions to other behaviors that are frequently interrelated to substance abuse, including compulsive sex disorder. With the majority of criminal convictions that tend to be among minority groups, the Mission cites the war on drugs to be legalized discrimination, targeting people of color and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual (LGBT) community.

The Yellow Rose Mission is dedicated to the memory of Margaret Gajewski (1920 -1995) who succumbed to ovarian cancer at the age of 75. The daughter of a coal miner from Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, Marge suffered illnesses that haunted her throughout her childhood and teenage years. Physicians could do nothing to help her. Near death at the age of 19, her step sister's husband brought Marge to a gypsy healer in upstate Pennsylvania who concocted a formula for Marge to take every day until it was finished. Within a month, Marge had fully recovered and she moved to Philadelphia where her step sister was living with her husband and two children. Marge found a job working in an office at a shipyard supporting the war effort. During the weekends she went dancing and cultivated friendships. A striking woman, Marge received many marriage proposals, but she preferred her independence following her encounter with illness.

At the age of 27, Marge met and married, Ed, a man who was charming, handsome and treated her like a queen. This is until a few years later when their first child was born and Ed began drinking heavily and spending time away from home. Eventually, Ed's drinking and abusive behavior towards his family was augmented by a serious compulsion to gamble about the time that their second son was born. Suddenly, Ed was deep in debt and Marge was without a support system.

Marge stayed with Ed, raising her two children who went on to successful careers in medicine and engineering, but with the ability to maintain a better understanding of their own genetic predisposition towards risky behavior thanks to Marge who was wise enough to recognize the cyclic patterns of behavior that are both learned and inherent.

Marge used common sense in reaching the conclusion that for whatever reason, there will always be those who are drawn to certain behaviors that are part of our society. After Ed died in 1987 after years of health problems associated with alcoholism, Marge intuitively projected a fateful outcome of the war on drugs, indicating that taking away the drugs an alcohol was not easy to do in a society weaned on chemicals. She felt that the answer was in education. She felt that if youth could only see what excessive drugs and alcohol lead to, they would be less likely to develop bad habits.

A COMMON SENSE APPROACH

There are several initiatives that the Yellow Rose Mission is now exploring:

1. Drug Use Education for all grades K through 12 with at least one semester of training in a hospital or health care center environment.

2. Proposal for a presidential committee to evaluate:

our healthcare system;
controlled substances,
prisoners convicted of non-violent drug-related offenses,
legal and psychological implications associated with drug screening by employers
medical schools
pharmacological research
state programs
DEA
NIDA
other federal agencies
rehabilitation methodologies
domestic violence units
hospitals & clinics
casinos and gambling venues
social clubs
pharmas and related orgs
all other applicable organizations..

3. It has been proven that the best way to distract people from using drugs is to provide them with work to occupy their time. The idea here is to coordinate these through harm reduction organizations. There also needs to be work programs for people with disabilities. These can be combined.

4. We need research to determine what substitutes can be provided for drug users of methamphetamine, cocaine and other drugs. By becoming a leader in this area, the US will excel as a world power, surpassing the most powerful nations with educational programs.

5. Healthcare needs to be investigated. The US needs a national healthcare program and to lower the salaries of healthcare providers, surgeons, etc, but increase their productivity. Medicine must be made more challenging, and the infant mortality rate must decline considerably as well as patient care must aim to be among the top 4% globally.

6. We must introduce a national drug and healthcare network that does not victimize users, and does not punish abusers.