DOUBLE STANDARD FOR URBAN, SUBURBAN DRUG USERS

Chicago -- I have just finished reading your Aug. 13 article about kids in
the suburbs coming to Chicago to purchase heroin ("Teens trek to city for
heroin; cops cite increase in suburban buyers," Page 1) and though I was
troubled by the report, I also could not help but laugh.

Finally, the article addresses something that kids in the city, such as I,
have known for a long time: that teens in the suburbs are often the ones
buying the most dangerous drugs on the city streets, not us.

Because we have been exposed so often and for so long to the downfalls of
crack, coke and heroin addiction, most city teens either avoid these drugs
altogether or only partake occasionally. And even then, it is with
significant caution.

We are well aware of what we're getting into; we've seen what happens to
those whose lives become controlled by drugs and do not wish to end up in
the same place.

Besides, these drugs are just too expensive to make a regular habit.

Our suburban counterparts, on the other hand, seem to have far more time
and money to spend on dangerous drugs.

Most of the young people I know only smoke pot.

They only rarely venture into cocaine, crack (this drug is looked down upon
by my peers) and heroin (this is a big no-no, just too addictive).

Despite this, urban kids are often painted as thugs strung out on whatever,
and we are harassed by everyone from parents to police to politicians.

But in fact the true problem lies with suburban kids who can easily take
daddy's SUV and spend daddy and mommy's money on heroin.

So I say that the focus should be switched.

Suburban teens should be harassed by police whenever they walk down the
streets.

Politicians should pass curfews and other restrictive laws in the suburbs
to keep those kids off of our city streets and to stop them from buying the
drugs that so infest and imperil our neighborhoods.

It's about time that people recognize that city of Chicago kids are not
always the drugged-out criminals everyone (mostly suburbanites) thinks we are.

In fact, the ones causing trouble and driving up demand for drugs live not
in Logan Square or Humboldt Park, but in places like Wheaton, Skokie and
Kenilworth. Have the long arm of justice reach further to where the true
problem lies, in someone else's back yard.