ASK WHY KIDS CHOOSE DRUGS

I believe the mandatory drug testing for our children who choose to
pursue extracurricular activities in our schools is simply brilliant.
In fact, I believe we should apply this philosophy in a much broader
approach.

Why stop at the schools? I think all of our children who choose to
participate in church youth groups should also be drug tested prior to
participation. Clearly this will keep these troubled kids from
mingling with any of the more spiritually-secure kids and make it much
easier for the church staff and volunteers to do their jobs of
providing guidance and support to those kids who survive the testing.

Why stop at drugs and alcohol? Why not test for eating disorders? If
we find a student who has been binge eating and is endangering
themselves with obesity, we should suspend them from these same
extracurricular activities. This will certainly help them.

In fact, I think we should test kids for any type of behavioral
dysfunction, and for those kids who test positive, suspend and isolate
them from any kind of support, counseling, spiritual guidance or
positive lifestyle changes. In this way we could greatly improve the
statistics of children who have behavioral and/or drug and alcohol
problems who are participating in extracurricular activities.

What in the world are we doing?

There has been an enormous effort and countless dollars directed
towards catching kids experimenting and using drugs and alcohol. The
current statistics are staggering, and there is a message in those
statistics, if we are only willing to listen.

Have we really taken the time and energy to consider why? Do we have
the courage and honesty to really dig into and reveal why our kids are
choosing these behaviors?

I am sure it has nothing to do with us, their parents and guardians,
or this crazy world we have handed them. Rather than spend all of this
energy and money on a system based on the "guilty until proven
innocent," why can't we direct these same resources to developing a
system that gives our children a network of opportunities to seek help
and support with dignity and confidentiality?

Trust begets trust. Respect begets respect. What if we stopped
arresting, testing and stressing our kids and provide them with more
love, understanding and support? Who knows, maybe they will turn out
better than us?