This summer I’m spending 8 Fridays serving on a Grand Jury where cases are presented by the ADA/prosecution teams to confirm that there’s enough evidence to go to trial. Mum is the word, we’re not supposed to share any of the details or proceedings, what happens at Grand Jury stays at Grand Jury, especially as many of these cases have not yet gone to trial. But vague general abstract takeaways as life lessons can be shared. And perhaps can be inspirational or cautionary. As with this post.

Some of the cases involve illegal drugs, both use and sale. As a Grand Jury you learn a lot about the methods of both druggies and police investigators, you learn the telltale signs of drug use and drug sales, and the many crimes that are related to and intertwined with it. But most of all, for me, as a father, a rabbi, a teacher, a friend – for me, the most powerful takeaways is how this can radically impact, change and ruin a person’s life, as well as the lives of those around them. In the brief time of testimony you get a glimpse of some of the lasting, irreversible, troubling and devastating impacts.

A few things I learned as a Grand Juror about drug use and may add to this once we hear more cases (but again this is general info, abstract takeaways, and is not revealing any info/details etc as we are not allowed to do so):

THE POTENCY
Dealers handle larger volumes, but on the user end some of the more potent drugs are measured in fractions of grams! The potency is incredible. It is easy to overdose (despite user denials). We like to say with good things that a little goes a long way, but it is certainly so with some of these drugs. It’s scary how much so little can do, and how the slightest variation can have life-altering and life-threatening impacts.

THE EASE
One person was questioned in their testimony as to when and how they got involved in this. The When question was easy, the person said a certain year in their teens. The how question though the person simply did not understand. What do you mean how? The place where I lived was rife with this, it was embedded in the culture, so many around me did it. In this person’s mind there was no How question. It was almost as if the drugs came with mother’s milk. How great must be the strength of one’s resistance in situations like that! Recalls Tanya 30.

IMPACT TO ONE’S PERSONHOOD
I found it interesting that when some people described certain others, they explained away their behavior or unpredictability or justified their fear of them – simply based on them being drug-users. It wasn’t just something they did, but it seemed to define their existence, it changed the way they were treated, viewed, it changed everything. And the same for the person themselves, it sucks you in, it changes how you operate, it alters your mental and emotional state – even when you’re not directly on it. The impact to your whole personhood is very penetrative and far-reaching. It’s not just a behavior or a poor choice. It’s much more altering than that, on many levels.

THE WRECKER
It wrecks families, it can hijack or kill people’s careers, it can leave children without parents, it robs young people of good health. You see how it makes people desperate and do reckless and dangerous things to themselves and others. Sometimes you see a sweet young talented soul enmeshed in this, and you wonder what could have been had they not been embroiled in this. In the “Like a Rose Among Thorns” post I shared how you see people ending up in the court system who have so much potential, so much goodness in them. How did this go down like that?

Folks, it’s food for thought. I know all readers and listeners differentiate and say “I’m different, this won’t happen to me. I’m in control, I know what I am doing….” but many of these people above said the same or similar. They did.