RESPONDING TO VOLUNTEER TEST EDITORIAL

This is in response to the editorial of July 31 regarding the voluntary drug
testing program recently adopted by Northwestern School District and earlier
by the Millcreek School District. The Erie County Drug & Alcohol Coalition
strongly supports these programs and urges parents to take advantage of them
as a means of awareness and early intervention.

Studies have shown that many kids have been using drugs for several years
before their parents became aware of it, at a point when it is much harder
to intervene and when serious harm to the child may have already resulted.
Unfortunately, parents typically think that their own children would not
become involved with drugs.

Illicit drug use among youth had been essentially cut in half from its peak
around 1980 until 1991, however there has been a resurgence in recent years,
particularly in marijuana. This rise in drug usage among youth has occurred
despite much drug education provided by the schools. We all know that
adolescents pay little attention to long-term health consequences and that
immediate consequences for behavior detrimental to their well-being are
needed. Parents can best provide those consequences, but initial drug use by
even their own children is often difficult to discern.

Not only have studies shown that kids who use marijuana are much more likely
to go on to use other illicit drugs than those who never used it, but
marijuana use in itself is detrimental to the social and academic
development of youth, as well as having adverse health consequences.
Marijuana can cause impairment in learning, memory, perception, and
judgment, and thus interfere with motivation and school performance. Heavy,
chronic use of marijuana -- with or without other illicit drugs -- is
correlated with higher levels of truancy, fighting, delinquency, arrests,
and health problems in adolescents. Daily use of marijuana appears to
produce the same lung diseases (bronchitis, emphysema, and bronchial asthma)
and potential cancer risk as smoking five times as many cigarettes.

Random drug testing is a means of protection of youth during the period when
adolescents are especially vulnerable to drug use in today's society. The
Coalition urges parents to take advantage of these programs using technology
now available as a tool for prevention and early intervention.

Nora Drexler
President, Erie County Drug & Alcohol Coalition
Erie