A SHARED PROBLEM

Much is different about Covington and Fort Thomas.

One is urban; the other suburban. There are different income levels,
different problems.

But one big problem is shared. In fact, this problem is shared to one
degree or another throughout Northern Kentucky communities large and
small. The problem is drug and alcohol use among school-aged children.

Surveys - one recently in the Covington School District and one a
couple of years ago in the Fort Thomas School District - bear that
out.

Both show that, despite all of the efforts to ''say no to drugs''
particularly aimed at younger children, as students move up from grade
to grade, more and more use illegal drugs and more and more drink alcohol.

The Covington school system's survey found a dramatic upswing after
the sixth grade.

The survey found about 5 percent of the Covington sixth-graders said
they use or have tried marijuana. That percentage increased to more
than 60 percent of the 12th-graders.

On the question of alcohol use, more than 20 percent of the Covington
sixth-graders surveyed said they drink or have tried it. That number
jumped to nearly 90 percent among students in the 12th grade.

While the percentages of students using drugs and alcohol were
different in a Fort Thomas survey issued in 1998, the same progression
was apparent: as students moved through the higher grades, drug and
alcohol use climbed.

Among Fort Thomas 7th graders, 4 percent said they had smoked
marijuana within the past year. By 12th grade that percentage rose to
45 percent.

On alcohol use, 37 percent of 7th grade students said they drank beer
within last year while 75 percent of the seniors said they drank.

Whether it's an urban area or a bedroom community, the problem of
substance abuse - of both illegal drugs and alcohol - among our young
people is very real.

Denying it, ignoring it or pretending it's someone else's problem only
leaves our children at the immediate risk of such things as failure in
school, unwanted pregnancy, traffic accidents and growing addiction.

Moreover, it leaves them in danger of facing a lifetime of the tragedy
drug and alcohol dependency brings.