A MORE SOBER GENERATION

America's 8th, 10th and 12th graders appear to be smoking less. They are
drinking less. Show them an illicit drug, and larger percentages than in
recent years are likely to decline to use it. Such are the happy
conclusions of a study sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The question is: What went right?

One speculative answer is that something went right because something went
wrong. Two experts were quoted in The New York Times as saying that the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks may have caused American youth to become more
serious about their lives. Another expert, however, says evidence for the
theory is lacking.

Maybe, say various observers, teens are getting smarter, thanks at least in
part to programs and advertising pointing out the health consequences of
indulging in cigarettes, alcohol and drugs. It seems to be the case that
teens are using the hallucinogen "ecstasy" less frequently because of a
growing awareness that it can damage the brain, the Washington Post reports.

An empirically supported theory about the steep drop in smoking by eighth
graders -- from 21 percent to 10.7 percent -- is that it is principally
about dating. Many youngsters of this age told pollsters they would rather
not go out with someone puffing away. A director of the study told the
Associated Press that "smoking makes a youngster less attractive to the
great majority of the opposite sex, just the opposite of what cigarette
advertising has been promising all these years."

Or maybe, just maybe, America's children are learning something from
parents who have given up cigarettes.

Whether American young people are more serious since Sept. 11, 2001, or
not, they are capable of learning if their elders spend enough effort
trying to get their attention. We must continue to teach them that smoking,
alcohol and drugs can put them in a hospital and sometimes in an early grave.

And more than anything, we must teach through example. All the
well-intentioned words in the world are defeated if our children realize
that the real message is, "Do as I say, not as I do.''

Meanwhile, the young people seem to be teaching each other that smoking can
also leave them dateless on the weekends.