INVOLVE PARENTS

Letter of the week

Dear Editor

I read with interest, Melissa Hamelin's article, "Drug seminar set to
educate residents," in the December 3rd edition of your paper.
Congratulations to your community on taking this pro-active step in
protecting our youth. It is very heartening to see a small community
tackle an issue which has/is creating such devastation in our country.

The best way to keep our youth drug free is the involvement of
parents. Surveys show that parents are the biggest influence in their
children's decisions about drug use; parents must actively engage in
educating their children and help them make healthy decisions.

There is a serious drug problem in this country. Marijuana is a much
bigger portion of this problem than most people realize. In the US
more young people are now in treatment for marijuana dependency than
for alcohol or for all other illegal drugs combined.

Of all teenagers in drug treatment, about 60 percent have a primary
marijuana diagnosis. The average age of initiation for marijuana use
generally has been getting younger. In 2001, 84 percent reported
first using marijuana between ages of 12 and 17. Are the above not
reasons to keep our youth drug free?

Parents, schools, community and police must all work together to
solve the youth drug problem.

There is timely information available at: mfiles.org, lifesite.net,
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) dea.gov, where they show their
sources. Many in Canada seem to feel that legalizing drugs would keep
them out of the hands of youth.

How has this worked out with tobacco and alcohol? Would not the
criminal element switch their target to our youth? Lets think again!

Eric Myrholm,
Abbotsford