This is a report on the Dangers of Drugs in the book That was Then, This is Now, by S.E. Hinton

Feb 17, 2015

The Dangers of Drugs in “That was Then, This is Now”

The year is 1971. Drugs have taken over America. SE Hinton’s coming of age novel, That was Then, This is Now warns teenagers about the dangers of drugs. The protagonist, Bryon Douglas has to learn whether to make the easy choice or the right choice. Bryon and Mark are best friends. But when Mark exhibits poor judgment, their friendship falters and Bryon must make the most important decision of his life. Bryon learns about the dangers of drugs through choices made by Mark, his adopted brother and M&M, his 13-year old friend.

Mark helps Bryon learn about the dangers of drugs. “M&M was in the hospital and maybe he was messed up for life and Mark was selling stuff that made him this way” (146). In this scene, Bryon sees the atrocities that drugs caused M&M. Bryon links it to Mark, because now he realizes who supplied all this hurt. Another quote is, “I thought about the blond, dead-looking chick and about M&M screaming about spiders, and Cathy half hysterical with grief” (146). As Bryon looks back at all of the horrible circumstances at the hippie house, he decides whether to forgive and forget or to remove one source of drugs. Bryon felt “ ‘Don’t drag me into this’ I thought, ‘Don’t make me blind just because you are’”. In this scene, Bryon decides not to forgive Mark for selling drugs and not to succumb to Mark’s plea for forgiveness. He also resolves to hate drugs because of the damage they caused to everybody he knows. Bryon learns about the dangers of drugs from the perpetrator. Now, let’s look at drugs from a victim’s perspective.

Bryon learns about the dangers of drugs, by the way M&M acts after taking them. “I went into my stomach. I went into my stomach and those spiders came out. I never knew that there were spiders in my stomach” (139). In this quote Bryon can see how M&M’s brain functionality has deteriorated, based on his crazy talk. He realizes what the drug, LSD, can do to a small, but smart 13-year-old. “ ‘Where am I?’ he was screaming in terror, ‘Why don’t I know where I am?’, ‘I was just sick, I didn't know how Cathy was managing’ “ (141). Bryon is sick when he discovers that M&M’s faculties have all but deteriorated. He also realizes the Carlson family’s perspective and M&M’s condition. “His old expression of complete trust and intent interest was entirely gone” (154). This scene happens when Bryon and M&M meet in a drugstore, later in the book. He contemplates the change in M&M, both physically and emotionally, after the drugs. From M&M, Bryon learns about the dangers of drugs through the deterioration of one’s mind.

In That was Then, This is Now, Bryon learns about the dangers of drugs through his abhorrent experiences with Mark and M&M. Mark was the drug dealer, who gets apprehended and M&M is the innocent boy who gets caught up in drugs. SE Hinton’s message about the dangers of drugs warns teenagers across America. Her message shows the dire consequences of making the wrong choices.