TIME TO DO SOMETHING -AGAIN - ABOUT DRUG USE IN THIS COUNTRY

Washington sophisticates had great fun ridiculing Nancy Reagan's
"simplistic" Just Say No campaign. Washington Monthly called it "Just
Say Nonsense." Instead of "oversimplifying" a "complex problem," we
should encourage "responsible use" of illegal drugs, the magazine
editorialized, as if there could be responsible use of marijuana,
cocaine, heroin or methamphetamines.

But, it was surely not a coincidence that drug abuse declined during
the Reagan years.

Former deputy drug czar Dr. Herbert Kleber, interviewed on PBS's
Frontline, told the truth: "to diminish drug use, you need to
de-glamorize and de-normalize drug use" in the manner of the Just Say
No campaign, which "had a good effect in terms of decreasing
initiation and use."

From 1980 to 1991, marijuana use among high school seniors decreased
from 33 percent to 12 percent, "an enormous decrease," according to
Kleber, and "1985-1986 turns out to be the high point of the cocaine epidemic."

Tragically, marijuana use increased rapidly again between 1992 and
1997, he added.

The Texas Department of State Health Services reports a similar
pattern. Success in combating marijuana use among secondary school
students in the 1980s was wiped out in the 1990s.

Now The New York Times brings word in a June 9 article that, as a
result of the legalization of so-called medical marijuana, "the
sticky, sweet aroma of cannabis fills" the streets of Mendocino
County and other places in California, and "marijuana as a medicine
has become an accepted part of life in many communities," providing
"legal cover for large-scale marijuana growers."

So many people are growing marijuana in residential neighborhoods
that housing shortages have resulted in some parts of the state.

It is time to "de-glamorize" and "de-normalize" drugs again.

The American public should be seriously concerned that the U.S., with
less than 5 percent of the world's population, consumes more than 50
percent of the world's illegal drugs. Marijuana often is the "gateway
drug" into the illegal drug culture.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, workplace drug abuse is a
major problem: "The vast majority of drug users are employed, and
when they arrive for work, they don't leave their problems at the door."

Three-quarters of drug abusers are employed. That means that
nationally 12.9 million drug abusers brought their problems to work
in 2005 and 13.4 million in 2006, posing significant occupational
hazards. The Labor Department statistics for 2006 reveal that an
alarming 8.8 percent of full-time workers were "drug abusers."

The Texas Workforce Commission is committed to helping Texas
businesses and their employees protect themselves from the danger
posed by workplace drug abuse. TWC provides employers with advice on
achieving drug-free workplaces, including a model workplace policy.
Under Texas and federal laws, there is almost no limitation at all on
the right of private employers to adopt drug and alcohol testing
policies for their workers.

Everyone should understand that employees who are fired for violation
of employer drug-free workplace policies are not eligible for
unemployment benefits. Employees terminated for illegal drug use or
other misconduct are not entitled to receive those benefits so long
as employers follow appropriate company procedures and give employees
warnings about the consequences of illegal drug use.

The most important thing is to de-glamorize and de-normalize drugs.

Dr. Kleber said it, and Nancy Reagan did it. Her "Just Say No"
campaign worked the first time, and we need another one like it today.