GRANDPARENTS JOIN IN WAR AGAINST DRUGS

BOSTON -- In its war against drugs, the government has enlisted
drug-sniffing dogs, SWAT teams and the military.

Now it's calling on a potentially more powerful weapon: grandma and grandpa.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy has launched an ad campaign to
coax grandparents into talking to their grandchildren about the dangers of
drugs. It's part of a larger effort to get adult role models of all sorts to
teach kids about the ravages of addiction, AIDS and violence.

"There is an air of honesty that comes through in a relationship between a
child and their grandparents," said Leigh Leventhal, spokeswoman for the New
York-based Partnership for a Drug-Free America, which is co-sponsoring the
campaign.

A nearly full-page advertisement ran this month in The Boston Globe
featuring a photo of a young boy looking attentively at an elderly woman,
his hand on her shoulder.

"Grandparents are cool. Relaxed," the ad states. "They're not on the firing
line everyday. Some days a kid hates his folks. He never hates his
grandparents. Grandparents ask direct, point-blank, embarrassing questions
you're too nervous to ask."

Leventhal said talk between children and grandchildren about drugs should
not be approached as an awkward one-time conversation like the proverbial
chat about the birds and the bees. Instead it should be part of an ongoing
dialogue about everything in their lives -- hobbies, schoolwork, friends.

Ruth Blackman, a grandmother of six from Boston, said the media program
makes sense.

Blackman directs a program that brings grandparents together with children
from around the Boston area to provide companionship and positive role
models. She said the children, who live in neighborhoods struggling with
drugs and violence, rely on their foster grandparents for help and support.

Run by the Action for Boston Community Development, the Foster Grandparent
Program has about 120 volunteers who spend about 20 hours per week with
children.

"It used to be a grandparent's role was to teach grandkids how to cook and
pass on cultural and religious tradition," Blackman said. "Now there's a new
responsibility. If you open avenues of communication, you can talk about
some very touchy, touchy issues."

The media campaign, launched by the government over the summer, targets
children up to high school age, as well as parents and other influential
adults. Officials expect the television and newspaper ads to start changing
attitudes among young people over the next several years.

"We're trying to get the message to the grandparents just as we're trying to
get the message to the parents: Just start talking," said Tom Delaney,
director of Boston Alcohol & Substance Abuse Programs Inc. "It's better than
passing up the opportunity or just saying nothing."

Checked-by: Don Beck