MANY PARENTS OUT TO LUNCH ON DRUG USE

She's 45, the mother of two. She used to smoke marijuana occasionally, but
never in front of the children.

When she found out her teenager was smoking marijuana, she was relieved.
``I would rather have him smoking pot than getting into alcohol,'' she said.

Experts say this woman's remarks are consistent with a recent U.S. survey
that found baby boomer parents often have their heads in the sand when it
comes to the influence of drugs on their children's lives.

Some, who grew up in the drug-saturated '60s and '70s, are not delivering
strong warnings against illicit drug use because of their own past
experimentation or even continued recreational use.

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Many `cross their fingers and hope the kid makes it'
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``A lot of boomers who grew up on the tail end of the '60s had benign
experiences with marijuana,'' says Sharon Young, who works with teenagers
at a substance abuse treatment and prevention facility. ``They minimize it
to their kids.''

That kind of attitude irks David Johnston, executive director of a youth
and family agency.

Many parents, he believes, are ``deciding to be clueless'' when it comes to
their children and drugs. ``When the tables are turned and you're the
parents, then it's not your kids. Or it's, `Yeah, just a little
experimentation once in a while.' ''

Another recent survey also found that while boomer parents recognize the
severity of the drug problem, they underestimate the presence of drugs in
their own children's lives.

Many boomer parents avoid the subject, says Cruger Johnson-Phillips,
director of an interfaith counselling centre that serves many teenagers.

``There are many parents who are effectively silenced because of their
feelings of hypocrisy,'' Johnson-Phillips says, adding that they ``cross
their fingers and hope the kid makes it through.''

She has a message for them: ``Wake up.''

``They're not recognizing that pot is much more potent now and that their
kids are growing up in a very different world that they did,'' she says.

Johnson-Phillips says there are ways to make children less susceptible to
drug abuse and, ideally, these measures should begin early in life.

``Kids who have a passion for something, whether it's music, nature,
mountain biking or art, frequently choose not to use.''

It's important, she says, that parents talk to their children about drugs
and alcohol before they reach junior high age.