Hello

Welcome to our blog: Real Talk on Substance Use and Prevention

No scare tactics. No fluff. Just real talk about substance use, its consequences, and what we can do to prevent it.

Here, we take a hard look at the choices that lead people down dangerous paths—not just for themselves, but for their friends, families, and communities. This isn’t just about the person using; it’s about the ripple effect. Every decision, every action has an impact. The goal? To educate, challenge perspectives, and get people thinking about what they can do to break cycles and change outcomes.

Whether you’re a parent, a mentor, a friend, or just someone who cares, this space is for you. Awareness is the first step. Action is the next. Let’s dig in.

Scare Tactics Don’t Work—Even at Halloween
9/10/25

’Tis the season for ghouls and goblins, witches and warlocks, vampires and skeletons. Haunted houses are opening their doors, grocery aisles are decked out in cobwebs, and jump scares are around every corner. Fear has a strange pull on us—it can give us an adrenaline rush, stir our curiosity, or test our courage. Once a year, we celebrate fear itself.

But this cultural fascination with fear also gives us a lesson about drug prevention.

For decades, prevention campaigns tried to scare youth away from substances. Many of us remember commercials like “This is your brain on drugs” with an egg sizzling in a frying pan, or PSAs showing extreme, worst-case scenarios. Research now shows these efforts didn’t work—and sometimes even backfired. Adolescents are natural thrill-seekers, and a scary message can activate curiosity rather than caution. Messages often don’t match reality either. When young people see friends or family using substances without visible harm, the warnings seem exaggerated, and the adults sharing them may come across as alarmist or dishonest. Adding to the challenge, teenagers are wired to live in the moment. Their frontal lobe—the part of the brain responsible for long-term planning—doesn’t fully develop until their mid-20s. Decisions are often based on whether something feels fun right now, or whether it earns social points today, rather than consequences in the distant future.

In that sense, scare tactics work a lot like Halloween itself. We don’t really believe skeletons wander the streets, witches cast curses, or ghosts pose a danger beyond throwing too much toilet paper in the trees. They appear to be novelty and invite interaction. The images are disconnected from everyday reality, and so they don’t change how we live.

The good news is that prevention doesn’t have to rely on fear. Studies show that small, frequent conversations about substances are far more effective, especially when the focus is on the immediate effects that matter to young people—things like how drugs and alcohol impact school, sports, friendships, and mental health in the moment. Clear rules and expectations from parents and caregivers also make a difference, and when youth are given practical refusal skills—like ways to say no or strategies to avoid risky situations—they are more confident when faced with peer pressure.

Most youth don’t really want to harm themselves. They want to have fun, feel accepted, and explore their world. If we give them truthful information and supportive environments, they are far more likely to make safe choices. Jump scares may be entertaining when they’re fake, but the consequences of substance use are real, and sometimes irreversible. Let’s move away from fear-based tactics and toward conversations that matter.

Happy haunting—and happy talking.

Ryan Boldman

FF/EMT/CPP

Soap Lake Prevention Coalition Coordinator

No Excuses 2/4/25

There is no excuse for crime. Breaking into someone’s business and stealing what isn’t yours to satisfy a selfish desire is indefensible, regardless of age or circumstance. The idea that your wants or needs outweigh the rights of the person you’re stealing from cannot be justified. It’s dishonest, dishonorable, and ultimately causes more harm than good—to everyone involved.

There is no excuse. But there are reasons.

Too often, when crime strikes, our conversations focus on condemning the act rather than taking the time to consider what led to it in the first place.

This past weekend, two 16-year-old boys from Soap Lake broke into a marijuana shop and stole some product. They were caught, arrested, and taken into custody. The immediate response from most is that they got what they deserved. Maybe so. I won’t argue that point. But my question is this: What led two teenage boys to risk their reputations, freedom, and future for a handful of short-term thrills?

Where were those responsible for these kids? Presumably, they live at home, although that’s not a given. Do we, as parents, know where our kids are and what they’re doing? What kind of support system have these boys had growing up? And is it possible that this is part of a larger issue? In the past year alone, youth in Soap Lake have been caught driving drunk, overdosing on fentanyl, attempting suicide, vandalizing property, and now, breaking into a store for marijuana.

Where are the adults in their lives? How are the actions or inactions of adults affecting the development of these youth?

It’s easy to sit behind a screen and call them foolish. To throw out lines like, “If you want to do big-boy actions, you get big-boy consequences.” But who taught them how to be "big boys" in the first place? What examples have they had? Has the revolving door of leadership in Soap Lake—city government, law enforcement, schools—provided them with a sense of stability? Unlikely. Has the local economy reassured them of a bright future? Doubtful. Perhaps they weren’t paying attention to the lessons from their church youth groups, their mentors at the Boys and Girls Club, or their scout leaders… Oh, wait. Those things don’t exist in Soap Lake.

Again, there is no excuse for crime. But what do we expect from kids who lack stability at home, in school, among their peers, and in the community?

If we, as adults, created more positive and consistent opportunities for them, could we prevent some of this behavior? If we chose to mentor instead of mock, could we guide them toward a better path? If parents paid closer attention and held themselves accountable, would fewer of our kids make reckless decisions? What if, instead of celebrating the imprisonment of teenagers, we took a moment to ask whether the adults in this community are part of the problem?

Youth are a product of their environment. So when situations like this arise, rather than simply condemning the offenders, shouldn’t we take a long, hard look at the environment that continues to produce them?

It’s true—the kids got what they deserved. But in light of the conditions that contributed to their actions, maybe the community did too. While those kids sit in custody learning their lesson, will we take the time to learn ours?

Time will tell.