ALCOHOL IS MOST DESTRUCTIVE DRUG OF ALL

National drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey's advice to fathers, published
in the Star-Bulletin Insight section on the eve of Father's Day, was a
persuasive admonition about a dad's role in educating teens about
drugs. Yet it missed the mark.

McCaffrey never mentioned the substance that is, by far, the No. 1
drug of choice for America's youth: alcohol. He needed to tell fathers
the very thing they least wanted to hear: Alcohol is a huge killer and
destroyer of children and teens.

It kills 6.5 times as many young people as all of the other illicit
drugs combined. While the nation is worrying about its youth becoming
addicted to other high-profile drugs, thousands are dying in traffic
crashes, drownings, boating mishaps, falls, suicides,
alcohol-poisoning incidents and other "accidents" because of alcohol.

MADD has taken its case to McCaffrey and tried to have alcohol
included in the present educational campaign. Although our drug czar
acknowledged that alcohol is a bigger threat to the health and safety
of our youth than other drugs included in the expensive campaign,
there were still no specific plans to address alcohol education in the
near future.

So it is up to moms and dads to tell kids, starting at age 10 or 11
when drinking begins, that alcohol is illegal for those younger than
21 and that there is solid research to support this law.

For more information, contact our local office at 532-6232 or check
out MADD's national Web site, www.MADD.org.

Carol H. McNamee
Public Policy Chairwoman
Mothers Against Drunk Driving Hawaii