HUFFING, SNORTING KIDS DON'T NEED JAIL AS MUCH AS THEY NEED EDUCATION

I smell something, and it's not hairspray or gasoline. More like a
political agenda ("We need a state law against huffing in order to help
protect our children," Letters Aug. 27). A law against inhaling to protect
children? You could put the death penalty on it and it would have no
effect. Are you trying to make it more attractive to kids as another
"forbidden act"? Ms. Wenger says that only education will change things.
Are parents going to be more willing to deal with this with the added shame
and legal (read financial) repercussions of breaking the law? Ask who they
would rather their child's first contact be: a cop or a counselor?

Children look for other ways of feeling because they don't like the way
they normally feel. Some huff, some use other drugs, but all need help, not
jail. We cannot give all kids a safe and happy home, but until we're
willing to pay for better education for all children, another feel-good law
is counterproductive. This sounds like a drug scare of the week to whip up
buzz either as a distraction or cheap self-aggrandizement from someone
looking for a political name.

Why are we willing to spend more on prisons than education? Is it just a
willingness to cast aside a certain percentage of children in the interest
of jobs?

George Comeaux, Anchorage