HIGH SCHOOL HIGHS

Ponytails on yesterday's hippies are mostly gray, but in too many U.S. high
schools, it might as well still be the Age of Aquarius. Drugs are used,
kept and sold in the schools of more than 60 percent of the high school
students surveyed by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.
In that toxic environment, drug use is alarmingly on the rise again after
three years of decline.

Teenagers can bluff themselves into believing they always can escape
addiction and death from drug use, but adults know better. Yet adults can
bluff themselves into believing Drug Abuse Resist-ance Education (DARE) and
"Drug Free School Zone" laws will keep their kids safe. The combined
delusions are increasingly dangerous. Many drug sales are still made inside
drug-free zones. And despite the good intentions of police, DARE's
effectiveness is limited.

Instead, research shows that information delivered by parents is a far more
potent preventive measure than either of the two most popular school
programs. Now it is for policy-makers to figure out how to arm parents for
this important job with accurate information about illegal drugs and their
effects, and to convince them to do their part.

Why the facts about drugs are not discussed in many homes is unclear, but
experts think that parents too often leave the problem to school programs
such as DARE. Natural inhibitions about discussing illicit behavior come
into play. And those without a thorough command of the facts,
understandably, are reluctant to venture very far into lecturing their
all-knowing teenagers about drugs. Shifting public resources to educating
parents would empower more of them. And parents who are trained for the
task are more likely to step up to the plate.

There's room to hope that, with the right encouragement, those who are
offered this help will take it. Some family-friendly employers offer
five-week drug education seminars as a free benefit, and the sessions have
been so well received that other companies are copying them.

Schools could do much the same, starting with parents of fifth- graders.
They must impress upon parents the significance of their role, then offer
them comprehensive information to share with their children. In 40 percent
of U.S. middle schools, students will need to know how to evaluate drug
dealers' lies. That must change if students are to receive the chance at a
bright future they deserve.