PARENTS MUST ASSUME GREATER RESPONSIBILITY IF DRUG BATTLE IS TO ENJOY ANY
SUCCESS, CREDIBILITY

Leadership is not about just taking charge, but taking responsibility.
President Bush illustrated that in Mexico last week when, on behalf of the
American people, he took responsibility for a national appetite for illegal
drugs to which drug lords cater.

Confident that Mexican President Vicente Fox would battle his country's
drug cartels, Bush signaled that he supported asking Congress to terminate
the annual process in which Mexico must be certified as actively waging
such a fight. That would be a good first step, as our southern neighbor
considers the certification exercise about as humiliating as the average
American employee would find regular drug tests. Then, in a gesture of
respect to his host, Bush acknowledged the ``main reason'' for the drug
flow through Mexico is American consumption.

He is correct. America's parents have too long looked the other way while
their teen-agers got involved with drugs. In effect, this see-no-evil
approach lets parents buy into the conventional drug-fighting wisdom --
that their children are innocent prey of foreign drug lords.

In truth, the kids don't look so innocent. While the Office of National
Drug Control Policy proclaims marijuana and cocaine use among American
youth has decreased, anyone in their right mind can tell these drugs still
are far too prevalent. Meanwhile, domestic manufacturing of chemical drugs
is increasing, and youth experimentation with so-called designer drugs like
Ecstasy is on the rise.

Fighting yesterday's war by defining the issue as a supply problem, the
American government is contemplating a rescue mission to save our children.
Having failed to win the war on the home front with an arsenal of drug
raids and treatment programs and do-it-yourself political slogans like
``Just Say No,'' American officials are ready to escalate the battle
internationally, particularly in Colombia, the cradle of the world's
narcotics trade.

Meanwhile, American kids continue to receive mixed messages concerning
drugs and those who use them. Recently, the producers of the television
show ``Ally McBeal'' announced they have signed Robert Downey Jr., an actor
who is a highly publicized drug addict, to a new deal that will earn him
close to $1 million for a few months' work. While the government wars
against drug lords, stories like this demonstrate to our youth that there
is no stigma attached to drug use.

Maybe young people could have learned nothing else being raised by a
generation of baby boomers who, in their own misspent youth, conducted more
drug experiments than the FDA. Desperate to be their children's pals,
middle-aged parents have struggled to find the words to tell their teen-age
children to do as they say and not as they did. This communication gap is a
missed opportunity because teen-agers tell pollsters that the biggest
factor in avoiding drug use is concerned and involved parents.

Americans got a serious jolt from the film ``Traffic,'' which depicted the
face of addiction as a white, suburban kid with good grades in private
school. The movie dissed the drug war as a politically motivated stage show.

Still, it remains difficult for us to shake the habit of blaming others for
corrupting our children. For decades, in popular culture and government
policy, Mexico and the rest of Latin America have served as convenient
villains. Only recently have more and more people begun to say the obvious
out loud: That there would be no supply without demand, and little
possibility for foreign corruption without a domestic population that is
readily corruptible.

Now that an American president has said it there is an opportunity for
Mexico and the United States to move forward as equal partners in combating
illegal drugs. That was the accord reached last week with Bush and Fox
pledging to commit their top diplomatic and law-enforcement efforts to a
new cooperative campaign.

Americans can do their part -- and, while they're at it, pay their respects
for dead cops on both sides of the border -- by finally accepting
responsibility for raising their children right.