John Lindsay Quotes
With intensive research it should be feasible to inoculate against heroin which would be administered ... in the same way as vaccines against smallpox, polio, measles.
John Lindsay, 1921-2000, New York Mayor (Republican), Congressional testimony, 1971
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This remarkable observation turned out to be true even to this day where study after study demonstrates that the average teenager believes that drug use is much more prevalent that it really is.
The reason that this is a noteworthy quotation is that it illustrates a problem of alcohol and other drug prevention. Specifically, the “fact” that is the message of the billboard is not correct and exaggerates the danger. The general problem is well-intentioned but inaccurate and misleading information provided to the public. When the public, especially young people, discover that the government or the other organization urging the public to eschew drugs is not telling the truth, they not only tend of disbelieve all anti-drug messages and believe that the warnings given are just part of politics or prudish elements of the society. In this case, many young people and adults have seen or know people who were heroin addicts and are no longer. They are not hooked for life. Worse, a single dosage of heroin does not per se inevitably cause addiction. There have been people who used heroin once, continued to use and became addicts. But there are many more who have tried heroin once or twice who did not become addicted. The real risk is that if someone tries heroin once, he/she may become one of those who goes on and gets hooked. The billboard message is “WILL” and the truth is “MAY”.
Rangel said this sarcastically to Lindsay, who wanted to do an experiment legalizing heroin. As Rangel described it, Lindsay said the heroin would be legal only for addicted adults and the experiment would be done only in a couple of places to test it.
It is not heroin or cocaine that makes one an addict. It is the need to escape from a harsh reality.
She was the first Black woman to be elected to Congress and was the first Black woman to actively campaign for the Presidency
John Vliet Lindsay was an American politician and lawyer. During his political career, Lindsay was a U.S. congressman, mayor of New York City, and candidate for U.S. president. He was also a regular guest host of Good Morning America. Lindsay served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from January 1959 to December 1965 and as mayor of New York City from January 1966 to December 1973. He switched from the Republican to the Democratic Party in 1971, and launched a brief and unsuccessful bid for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination as well as the 1980 Democratic nomination for Senator from New York. He died from Parkinson's disease and pneumonia in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on December 19, 2000.
