USA TODAY's report "Drugs top adult fears for kids' well-being"
(Life, Dec. 9) should give us a smack upside the head, not
because drugs are the biggest problem facing our youth but
because we have chosen to make them the biggest.

As the article states, people believe drug abuse is the biggest
danger facing children, and worries about children living in
poverty or lacking health care are
"non-existent."

Mistakenly, we have created a single, easily recognizable
scapegoat for ourselves when, in fact, there are a multitude of
problems affecting our youth. Sometimes drugs are the problem,
but more often they are only the solution. Poverty and the lack
of education are, in fact, the biggest factors in determining
those who abuse drugs.

What makes one person use drugs and another avoid them is not the
drugs, but every other environmental factor that could contribute
to the decision making process. Just look at alcoholism to see
the parallels.

If our policy were to wage a war for education or against
poverty, our results would be astounding compared to those of our
spectacularly ineffective "war on drugs." Yet, it seems our youth
have been caught in the "war on drugs" that engulfs society.
Not until we take the blindfolds off and recognize that drugs are
not a singular evil which creates a myriad of other societal
problems, but vice versa, will we be able to effectively improve
the overall quality of life for our children, including the
minimization of drug abuse.

Joel W. Johnson
San Jose, CA