THE REAL WAY TO FIGHT DRUGS

Just say no to drugs."

I see where the DARE program is considered a failure by many.

I don't know if we can judge the program without taking in more factors.

The DARE program was never meant to be a panacea for all human trouble
and pain. Any drug program can only work in conjunction with a drug-free
home life.

I don't know how many times I've seen a car sporting a DARE bumper
sticker, and the driver is smoking a cigarette.

The parents moan, "the gosh darn kids just won't listen when I tell them
about drugs."

Do you have a DARE bumper sticker on your car? Do you use tobacco? Then
you yourself are a drug addict and need help.

Do you drink alcohol? Do you have a DARE bumper sticker?

Think about it.

Do you take legal medication for your "nerves"? Do you have a DARE
bumper sticker?

Again, think about it.

I recently saw a tobacco delivery truck with a bumper sticker that said,
"Just say no to drugs!"

That tobacco service company, you see, was using the bumper sticker to
pretend they were "against drugs." And all the while, they were every
smoker's number one drug connection.

"Do as I say, not as I do," doesn't work. It never will. Until we as a
drug-addicted nation admit to our dependency on legal drugs, we will
constantly be sending the wrong message to our young people.

And that message is abysmal hypocrisy.

Young people are young, not stupid. They can smell "bull" faster than
grown-ups with their lifelong rationales.

Bumper stickers can be funny. When they try to proclaim "truths,"
however, they simply come across as slick and meaningless.

They are as wrong in the long run as five minutes of cheap advice.

Drug programs are well-intentioned and administered by good people.
These programs will only work, however, if they face a few unpleasant
facts.

Are we willing as a nation to admit that America, for all its good, can
be bad at times? Can we admit that for many, life isn't a bowl of
cherries and Norman Rockwell moments? Can we admit (do we even have the
courage to learn) that for some young people in this grand old U.S. of
A., life is just another day in hell? Just another day of loneliness and
pain.

And I don't mean just "street" youth, either. Some of the loneliest,
pained souls I've ever known are wealthy and elite young people.

One of the most serious challenges facing America today is the curing
and abolishment of social ills that cause people to turn to drugs in the
first place.

Until we do heartfelt battle with those ills, all the sermons, bumper
stickers and drug programs will be nothing more than a mockery of what
should be done.

Until we begin working with life's casualties in an honest,
straightforward way, we shall be ignored.

It is past time to stop offering glib, inane slogans ("Just say no to
drugs") and expecting troubled souls to turn from drugs and be ever so
grateful.

If any drug program is ever going to work, we must start dealing with
where people are coming from, not where we want them to be.

Most importantly, we must all make sure we do not send our youth a
hypocritical message. For if we do, we will surely lose our children.

And we will deserve it.