KIDS AND DRUGS

Anti-drug campaign officials cannot be happy with the announcement last
weekend that the late Carl Sagan, one of America's foremost astronomers, was
an avid marijuana smoker. Sagan told friends some of his most intellectual
work was inspired by pot-induced highs. Such a revelation only adds to the
burden of parents trying to convince their kids to stay away from drugs.

But something is working in the battle against drug abuse among children.
The federal government's annual National Household Survey on Drug Use shows
a 15 percent decline last year in teen use of such drugs as marijuana,
heroin and cocaine. The same survey, however, reveals a disturbingly
opposite direction for drug use in young adults, 18 to 25 -- a 10-percent
increase.

The survey included teen use of alcohol and tobacco products, and showed the
following illuminating statistic -- teens who smoke are 11 times more likely
to use illegal drugs and 16 times more likely to drink heavily than
non-smokers. Those numbers are compelling reasons to discourage your
children from taking up the cigarette habit.

Critics of government anti-drug policies argue that campaigns such as Just
Say No and DARE have little effect on teen drug use. We disagree, and we
think you will too when you consider that when the federal government scaled
back on its drug education and awareness programs in the early 1990s, drug
use among teens shot up by more than 200 percent.

Anti-drug messages work -- and those messages should be heard first in the
home. When your teen points to Sagan's pot-smoking habits and then to his
scholarly accomplishments, here's what you can say: Think what he could have
accomplished without being stoned.