How Iceland Got Teens to Say No to Drugs, and How We Can Too | Aleethia Mackay | TEDxWinnipeg

[ashleyylo]

Great talk! “The opposite of addiction is connection” — so so true.

[friscostreetstories]

Great opening in terms of humanising the kids and excellent job sista. School drug counselors is a great idea. When I was a kid, Im 48 now, either you sank or swam in highschool. Im glad bullying has taken the forefront.

[irenashiloh]

My twin sons passed away from this disease. My son Alex hung himself at a rehab in July 2019 and only 7 months later, his twin brother Andre overdosed. I recorded a song (it is on my channel) titled "Say No To Drugs" in loving memory of my sons. It is a message from my heart to all people struggling with addiction (I am a singer-songwriter and producer). The song has a dance rhythm to appeal to young audiences so they can hear the message in the lyrics.

[idontleavelikesileavecomme]

More people like this from around the world should connect and follow suit

[teenagedream]

It's an amazing speech. One of the best that I ever heard 😊😊😊

[nadeen]

Incredible and insightful presentation, wow. Shed a few tears even..

[rambololal]

There is a third variable regarding tobacco smoking. The percentage of teenagers and adults using mouth tobacco in Iceland is crazy high....so we don't smoke as much cigarettes as before, BUT we still use a lot of mouth tobacco (not the kind in the USA; it's a dry tobacco that you put into pouches or just straight under the lip). Just a food for thought :)

[bethdumont]

Hey - all good points. BUT - addiction can also result from acknowledged disabilities like ADHD/ADD & ASD.
A lot of people using tobacco and alcohol use such substances to either gee up or damp down their sensory systems. Research consistently shows this fact.

And it's hard for those kids to get all that attention and connection they crave because of their learning difficulties.

[slondino]

This is all well and good. Iceland is a small country. In a perfect world this would be great for all.However, in the US parents would be screaming of government interference. Also, many parents use with their children.

[vlb]

God bless our future world. God bless protect and heal our world youth from drug side effects, drug related crimes and mafia. God always keep the world youth healthy wealthy wise and spiritual for a prosperous world. God bless youth to have an internal locus of control and stand firm on universal good beliefs. God give wisdom to youth to say NO to drugs or any thing addictive. God guide them in the right path so many don't go astray and our future world doesn't have to deal with the damage done by addictive personality type & other types of prodigal children.

[truthseekermedia]

Some people must learn all lessons the hard way. I am one of them! ! !

[alexeykulikov]

Hope Riley keeps going for a long while....

[ChaseMurphy]

Nah Iceland lit what's she talkin bout

[TheOpacue]

1.2 million dollars? That sounds extremely low for a country to spend on such a thing. Are you sure you mean million, and not billion? A million is basically building one soccerfield, no?

[TheOpacue]

Yes, this is great! But, I also belive that since the opposite to addiction is connection and not sobriety, you can combine this with plain legalization. Cause first, forbidding things just makes them attractive for many. Second, I think that some drugs, for some people, are simply a good thing (mainly weed I guess), and thirdly (and this is big), I can't believe how normalized it has become to have other people telling you what to do and put in your own body and threaten you with punishment for what you do with YOU. That part is just so wack to me, and I say that is just so wrong. Laws like that should be kept at a minimum. Cause ofc, if you do anything that disturbs or endanger others, that's a completely other thing. But if you're doing heroine in your own home, you might definitely have problems and need help, but being punished for that is insane.

And I say this as someone who grew up in church and never been drunk or anything. Biggest vice I have is Ben&Jerrys.

[frodowaage]

Reminder that iceland smokes the most weed of the united nations. Compared to size.