As you probably know, I’m Dr. Ed Marshall, and I really am a medical doctor. Some years ago I would visit high schools in the Los Angeles area to have sessions with classrooms of students about drugs and stress management.

I’ll never forget the session I had at Beverly Hills High School. When I walked into the room, the teenagers were clearly not happy, thinking “Oh, no, here comes another Just Say No talk”. Many had their heads down on their desks, perhaps hoping to ignore my talk, or maybe even catch a nap for that 40 minutes.

I started by asking them questions. I told them nothing for most of that 40 minutes.”How is it that so many people go through life, doing well, without ever having drug, alcohol, smoking or excess food problems? How do they manage stress without those things?” Heads began to lift off the desks. Hands would go up in the air to give answers. These kids were smart, and came up with good answers, such as the use of exercise, or talking things over with trusted people in their lives, or music, or hobbies, to explain managing stress without substance abuse.

I added that healthy stress management also involves seriously planning and working to deal with or solve the problems causing stress. Then I asked them, “What is the thing that is most dangerous about drugs such as heroin and other narcotics, and alcohol abuse?” Now the students were getting progressively excited, waving their hands in the air to give their answers.

“Illegal drugs can get you in jail!” “You can get addicted for life!” “You can lose your family or your job!” With each enthusiastic answer I would say, “Yes, that’s pretty dangerous, but I’m looking for something that is way more serious.” Finally one student raised his hand and excitedly said, “I know! Drugs can kill you!” He smiled, so sure that he had named the most dangerous thing that I was looking for.

“Well, yes, that’s dangerous for sure, but I’m looking for something even more importantly dangerous about drugs than that.” The students were stunned and speechless, but attentive. So, after a few seconds I said, “To me, the most dangerous thing about drugs is that they work! Why else would people go to such extremes and take such risks to use them?”

Yes, I explained, they work. Heroin takes away the enormous pressure that builds up because the user believes it is wrong to tell anyone, and talk over, with a trusted family member or friend, what is really troubling them, what is making them angry, sad, disappointed. So, there is both the physical addiction, and more importantly, the strong belief that the drug is absolutely needed. But, just because the drugs work, the price, not just money, is very high, so why not use the healthy ways to manage stress instead? They work, too!

When I was able to get Methadone (a legal narcotic that is prescribed for narcotic addicts so that they can handle addiction without having to use heroin or other illegally obtained narcotics) clinic patients to try tossing out their emotional distress by talking it out with trusted people in their lives, and doing the same, in return, for those people and their stress factors, the patients would come back for their next visit and say, “I don’t need drugs any more. Please get me off the Methadone as quickly as possible.” We did that. It worked.

When I asked one Methadone clinic patient how his week was, he told me that his favorite uncle had died.”Did you go to the funeral?” I asked. “Yes”, he said. “How was it?” I asked. “Cool”, he answered. Sure, I said to myself, with plenty of sarcasm, the funeral of his favorite Uncle was “cool”.

Being a narcotic addict, he thought it was totally wrong to ever tell people about negative feelings. I asked him how he came to believe that. He told me that when he told his father what he was upset about, during his childhood, his dad would pick him up and throw him hard against the nearest wall. You can see how he got the message to keep it all inside, no matter how the pressure would build. Then he found that a shot of heroin would take that pressure away, for a little while.

Using the BEST System, which stands for Belief Enrichment and Substitution Training, my sure-fire self-help method, I now offer Guides to help people with food, drug, alcohol, tobacco and all sorts of personal problems. You can check it out by going to the STORE page on this site or by going to DrEdSolvesIt.com. Money is not the issue. $9 for one Guide or $15 for all. An Introduction to The BEST System is free. All Guides go out by instant email.

Nothing else to buy. no meetings, no clinics, no rehab. For weight management, no diets, no drugs, no clinic, no surgery, and great results just by learning to eat the way lifetime naturally lean people do. I learned it, and lost my 35 extra pounds. I eat exactly what I want, every day. with no forbidden foods from a weight control point of view, just like they do.

Each of us is our own Life Manager. The question is, are we doing a good job? All of us can learn to do better, so why not do that?

Thank you for your attention to this blog.
Your friendly problem solver,
Dr. Ed