(Editor note: Slightly edited from my version, but published nonetheless!)

DRUGS ARE SCAPEGOAT

To the Editor:

USA TODAY's report "Drugs top adult fears for kids' wellbeing" (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 "nonexistent."

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