harvey milkman
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intro’d to Harvey here:
Bonnie Stewart (@bonstewart) tweeted at 6:50 AM – 19 Jan 2017 :
organized, accessible activities for teens/young adults as prevention against substance abuse: #PEI, can we DO this?https://t.co/TObxao5MuS (http://twitter.com/bonstewart/status/822078829241962497?s=17)
do it for all/globe.. call it rat park
https://mosaicscience.com/story/iceland-prevent-teen-substance-abuse
Gudberg Jónsson, a local psychologist, and Harvey Milkman, an American psychology professor who teaches for part of the year at Reykjavik University
@gudbergjonsson
The way the country has achieved this turnaround has been both radical and evidence-based, but it has relied a lot on what might be termed *enforced common sense.
Milkman’s doctoral dissertation concluded that people would choose either heroin or amphetamines depending on how they liked to deal with stress.
At Metropolitan State College of Denver, Milkman was instrumental in developing the idea that people were getting addicted to changes in brain chemistry.
This idea spawned another: “Why not orchestrate a social movement around natural highs: around people getting high on their own brain chemistry – because it seems obvious to me that *people want to change their consciousness – without the deleterious effects of drugs?”
*if realized it was an option.. would we simply want to change our consciousness.. or the environment..?.. hari present in society law
By 1992, his team in Denver had won a $1.2 million government grant to form Project Self-Discovery, which offered teenagers natural-high alternatives to drugs and crime.
“We didn’t say to them, you’re coming in for treatment. We said, we’ll teach you anything you want to learn: music, dance, hip hop, art, martial arts.” The idea was that these different classes could provide a variety of alterations in the kids’ brain chemistry, and *give them what they needed to cope better with life: some might crave an experience that could help reduce anxiety, others may be after a rush.
perhaps.. all just craving connection.. perhaps 2 needs/desires/cravings..
*sounds more reactive than preventative..
perhaps we org/infra around humanity’s 2 deeper needs.. ie: a nother way
In 1991, Milkman was invited to Iceland to talk about this work, his findings and ideas. He became a consultant to the first residential drug treatment centre for adolescents in Iceland, in a town called Tindar. “It was designed around the *idea of giving kids better things to do,” he explains.
imagine.. not just kids.. and not just better things to do.. rather.. all of us.. and.. to do the thing we can’t not do..gershenfeld sel
Using the survey data and insights from research including Milkman’s, a new national plan was gradually introduced. It was called Youth in Iceland.
Laws were changed. It became illegal to buy tobacco under the age of 18 and alcohol under the age of 20, and tobacco and alcohol advertising was banned.
A law was also passed prohibiting children aged between 13 and 16 from being outside after 10pm in winter and midnight in summer. It’s still in effect today.
perhaps if wasn’t a partial experiment .. wouldn’t need laws
State funding was increased for organised sport,
Peter and org’d ness killing play/us
Youth in Europe, which Jón heads, began in 2006 after the already-remarkable Icelandic data was presented at a European Cities Against Drugs
“We always say that, like vegetables, information has to be fresh,” says Jón. “If you bring these findings a year later, people would say, Oh, this was a long time ago and maybe things have changed…
imagine 24/7 fresh ie: hosting-life-bits via self-talk as data.. everyday.. as the day..
At the moment, participation in Youth in Europe is a *haphazard affair, and the team in Iceland is small. Jón would like to see a centralised body with its own dedicated funding to focus on the expansion of Youth in Europe. “Even though we have been doing this for ten years, it is not our full, main job. We would like somebody to copy this and maintain it all over Europe,” he says. “And why only Europe?”
global do over via rat park ness… *deep enough
ie: imagine if we ness
Three hundred and twenty-five million people versus 330,000. Thirty-three thousand gangs versus virtually none. Around 1.3 million homeless young people versus a handful.
Clearly, the US has challenges that Iceland does not. But the data from other parts of Europe, including cities such as Bucharest with major social problems and relative poverty, shows that the Icelandic model can work in very different cultures
Milkman has learned the hard way that even widely applauded, gold-standard youth programmes aren’t always expanded, or even sustained. “With Project Self-Discovery, it seemed like we had the best programme in the world,” he says. “I was invited to the White House twice. It won national awards. I was thinking: this will be replicated in every town and village. But it wasn’t.”
He thinks that is because you can’t prescribe a generic model to every community because they don’t all have the same resources.
Public wariness and an unwillingness to engage will be challenges wherever the Icelandic methods are proposed, thinks Milkman, and go to the heart of the balance of responsibility between states and citizens. “*How much control do you want the government to have over what happens with your kids? Is this too much of the government meddling in how people live their lives?”
*none.. control is why we haven’t yet gotten to equity.. facilitation.. listening w/o agenda to the trails left via ie: self-talk.. but no control..
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2010 – 17 clips on his book craving for ecstasy and natural highs
worked for 10 yrs w youth.. offering healthy alt’s
defn… behavior characterized by compulsion.. loss of control.. and continuation despite harmful consequences.. so doesn’t really matter (what you’re addicted to).. if lose control over autonomy.. freedom of movement in society…
nicotene.. the world’s anti depressent.. 1/3 of world on it
human nature ness
people not getting addicted to drugs.. what they’re really getting addicted to is changes in their brain chemistry.. mind produces own brain chemicals.. how to help people change brain chemistry .. toward benefit in society.. via natural brain chemicals..
is there ways of educating society to find healthy means of feeling good… orchestrating around brain chem in such a way that they have a sense of fulfillment and well being w/o neg sides of compulsive pleasure seeking
how.. systematic way to help people feel good
ie: hosting-life-bits via self-talk as data.. key: as the day [aka: not part\ial.. for (blank)’s sake…]
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from a 2021 fb share
lot of repeat from above.. maybe even same.. and i just didn’t quote diff parts before.. just leaving it al here .. with a few new notes/links:
′′ In the mid-90 s, Icelandic teenagers were in the number of Europe’s most drinking and smoking.Today, Iceland heads the table in European countries with the healthiest lifestyle of teenagers (young people aged 13 to 19 years)!
Icelandic scientists have tried to understand which biochemical processes are causing addiction.
And thanks to that, in 20 years they managed to reduce the number of teenagers who smoke and drink several times.
Harvey Milkman, an American professor of psychology, now a professor at Reykjavik University, concludes that choosing a type of alcohol or drug depends on how the human body is used to dealing with stress.It turned out that there was a set of different substances causing biochemical processes in the brain, which then the body becomes dependent.Scientists decided to find activities that stimulate the same processes in the brain. Milkman says: ′′ You can be addicted to smoking, alcohol, coca-cola, energy drinks and certain foods… We decided to offer teenagers something better. ′′ Students were promised to include them in programs of *free master classes in any sport or art they would like to learn. Scientists suggested that ′′ dancing, music, drawing or sports also triggered biochemical processes in the brain that do the best possible, but also harmless handling of stress, and that in terms of emotional effect, such activities should have the same impact on adolescents , like stimulants, alcohol or smoking. The **additional hours three times a week were specially funded by the state. Every teenager was asked to participate in the program for three months, but many continued their studies over five years.
To solve nicotine and alcohol addiction problems among adolescents, authorities also had to change the law. Iceland prohibits commercials of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages and creates special organisations of parents who, along with the school, help students solve psychological problems.So Iceland reduces the number of teenagers who drink regularly from 48 % to 5 %, and those who smoke from 23 % to 3 %. Icelandic scientists suggest using similar methods in other countries.
The question is, who will let this happen? These will be huge losses for multinationals. They have no interest in many teenagers in becoming aware of and avoiding the fate of the addict until their death to alcohol, cigarettes and stimulants person. They want users.“
ie: a nother way
1\ undisturbed ecosystem (common\ing) can happen
2\ if we create a way to ground the chaos of 8b free people
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find/follow Harvey:
https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/author/harvey-b-milkman
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be you. 