WRONG CROWD STEERED DRUG EDUCATION POLICY ASTRAY

The article "America is losing drug war, poll finds" stated that the demand
for drugs is so high it will be impossible to stop their use (March 22).
White House spokesman Scott McClellan was quoted as saying the Bush
administration favors "a balanced approach to combat drugs based on
education, treatment and law enforcement."

I couldn't agree more with that approach, but I wish to point out that the
weakest leg in that triangle is education.

A major contributing factor to the tolerance of illicit drugs and narcotics
in America is that our schools have been sending out weak and confusing
messages. Since the early 1970s, educators have been brainwashed by
permissive pundits and curriculum developers to believe scare tactics and
facts about drugs are counterproductive and that the solution to the drug
abuse problem for students is to use a values-clarification approach, apply
compassion, give counseling, set up hot lines and at all costs avoid using
the word "don't" when discussing drugs.

The fashionable approach in drug education has been to let the children
examine all aspects of their feelings, attitudes, values and societal
pressures and then make their own decisions about whether to use drugs.

Until our schools change their pitch, illicit drugs will continue to be a
tragic part of our culture.

Malcolm Lawrence, Chevy Chase