STUDENTS: DRUG ADS DON'T WORK

Programs aimed at stopping drug abuse among children often don't work,
some students from area middle schools told the chairwoman of the
state House Drug Task Force.

"There's so much drug use, you can't stop it," said Wil Tillar, a
Chartiers Valley Middle School student.

Middle school students from Carlynton, Chartiers Valley, Moon Area and
West Allegheny school districts and Holy Child Catholic School in
Bridgeville spoke openly Thursday about drug abuse during a town hall
meeting in Moon Township hosted by State Rep. Katie True, a Lancaster
Republican.

Comments from the meeting will be used to this fall to help secure
money for prevention programs, including the Drug Abuse Resistance
Education program. True, chairwoman of the House Drug Task Force,
wants the middle school-based program to be expanded to junior and
senior high school students.

But Duke Van Pelt of Chartiers Valley told True he doesn't think the
DARE program works.

David Gorski, a West Allegheny student, said billboards with anti-drug
slogans are "corny."

"I've seen the billboards," he said. "They don't work."

The drug task force, made up of House Judiciary Committee members, is
convening town hall meetings across the state. True said drug
education programs must be continued.

"I look at every one of you and think that you're the only hope we
have," said True, who has been involved with drug abuse prevention
programs since the late 1970s. "I don't think we should throw our
hands up and give up."

Students said people use drugs for many reasons including boredom,
peer pressure, rebellion or experimentation. Some parents smoke and
drink in front of their children, students said.

Jillian Lukac of West Allegheny said some parents have a "do as I say,
not as I do" mentality, which children consider justification for
using drugs.

State Rep. Tom Stevenson, a Mt. Lebanon Republican, was among the
other legislators who participated in the meeting. Although not a
member of the drug task force, he said education - of parents as well
as students - is the key to drug abuse prevention.

"If parents knew there was a problem, they'd become more involved," he
said.