APATHETIC ADULTS ARE TO BLAME FOR PROBLEMS WITH OUR YOUTH, DRUGS

To the Editor:

The youth of our nation is our greatest resource.

Do parents care? Do elected officials care? Only 30 people (not all
parents) showed up for the South County Community Forum on Student Use of
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drugs.

"John" and "Jane" student, if your parents attended, you are lucky because
they care about you! Elected officials attending - zero. Politicians
campaign on how much they want to do for the youth of the country. Judge
their actions the next time they ask for your vote!

Who is responsible for the problems that alcohol, tobacco, and drugs
inflict on the youth of our country? We are! We are apathetic! Concerned
citizens should be demanding that those they elected to serve them pass
stricter laws and enforce present laws to the maximum.

The "War on Drugs" has been going on for 20 years, during the Reagan, Bush
and Clinton administrations. Where are the casualties?

The casualties are 13 million drug users in our country in 1996. (The
D.E.A. states that one-third of all violent crime and half of all murders
are drug related.)

We cannot stop drugs from entering our country. The sale of drugs could be
stopped or slowed by making importation or possession of drugs for sale a
capital offense. Our elected leaders could do this if they wanted to make
our country a better place to live.

According to the Mexican government, "Drug trafficking in Mexico is aimed
at satisfying the demand in the United States." (According to the U.S.
Department of Justice, drug syndicates delegate as much as 60 percent of
the $7 billion to $10 billion they earn each year to bribe public officials
here and south of the border.)

Do you think our public officials could be bribed?

Politicians should not be allowed to pardon drug dealers. Twenty-seven were
pardoned last month. Can we allow the hard work of law enforcement to go
for naught?

The sale of alcohol and tobacco to minors could be slowed or stopped by
city officials. They could just revoke the business license of the illegal
seller. Give the adults who buy tobacco and alcohol for minors stiff fines
or jail terms.

Education of our children about drugs is a must! Ridding our society of the
vermin who sell the drug poison in our country is also a must! A slap on
the wrist or a short confinement won't do! Vermin who import or sell drugs
should be eliminated as most would do with a rabid animal.

I urge any who might agree with me to write to our elected officials, who
work for us, and ask them if they are fighting the war on drugs or just
mouthing words to get re-elected. You can find their addresses in your
phone book.

My source for the items in parenthesis is the Encarta yearbook, August 1997.

Myron May, MGYSGT, USMC Retired, Arroyo Grande