KEEPING DRUGS FROM KIDS

I was irritated by the pessimistic Dec. 20 Chronicle article, "Kids deaf to
anti-smoking message; School programs found effective," which was about the
failure of a study at Washington state to teach kids about the evils of
smoking.

It turned out that the study had no more effect on stopping kids from
smoking than the DARE program has in preventing kids from trying illegal
drugs. And speaking of irritations, the DARE program costs Houston
taxpayers several million dollars per year.

The Washington state experiment that failed was probably sponsored and
dreamed up by government bureaucrats. And even if it brought in some
psychologists and other experts to help, I doubt that any of them ever
smoked or even thought about smoking.

The DARE program was thought up by Daryl Gates -- then Los Angeles police
chief -- who thought the best solution to the drug problem would be to line
up all abusers of illegal drugs and shoot them.

Another reason I was so irritated by the article was that I know there are
several states with excellent anti-smoking campaigns that actually work.

How I wish for a rational drug policy in America, so that instead of having
to spend all of our time trying to keep nonviolent drug offenders out of
prison, we could devote at least part of our time to thinking of better
ways to keep kids from fooling around with dangerous and addictive drugs in
the first place. But enough with the dreaming.

G. Alan Robison
executive director
Drug Policy Forum of Texas
Houston