JUST SAY DRUGS AREN'T COOL

So many parents, teachers, and community leaders are eager for some sign of
a decline in drug use among teenagers that it's worth citing a recent
survey by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. This group's polls show
drugs are gradually losing their aura of "coolness" and acceptability.

The statistical declines are hardly startling - 40 percent of teens
surveyed saying that really cool kids don't use drugs, compared with 35
percent a year ago; experimentation with marijuana is down to 41 percent,
from 44 percent in 1997. A few more kids are trying to talk friends out of
using drugs. More are saying they couldn't be talked into it. Considerably
more say they're aware of antidrug messages in the media. Skeptics are
prone to sneer at such findings.

They point to continued high drug use generally. But changes in attitudes
toward drugs shouldn't be discounted. Altered attitudes lead to altered
behavior, as shown by dropping cigarette use among youths in states making
a consistent effort to discourage smoking.

Perhaps most importantly, anti-addiction drives - whether against drugs,
tobacco, or alcohol - have to credit the people they want to sway with
intelligence and common sense. Those faculties may need to be awakened.

Kids, and adults for that matter, have to be moved to the questions, "Do I
really want to do this to myself?" and, "Do I want to set this example for
others?" Helping young people toward the right answers early is at the
heart of the country's offensive against drugs.

The ads being aired as part of the government's National Youth Anti-Drug
Media Campaign have their part to play. So, critically, do parents and
other influential adults. It's encouraging that an increased proportion of
teens surveyed (30 percent versus 27 percent last year) said their parents
had informed them of the dangers of drugs. The glimpses of hope seen in
this survey and other recent ones demand diligent follow-up. Reducing
demand is the most critical front in the drug "war." Among youths, whether
urban, suburban, or rural, that means education, with an emphasis on moral
reasoning - making decisions that help oneself and others.