Regarding Jennifer Bakht's Oct. 15 letter, "Scare younger kids
away from drugs":

I am a 40-year-old. During my day in junior high school, her idea
was already being implemented. It didn't work. I belong to a
generation in which drug use possibly reached record highs. The
reason for this is simple: Scare tactics are not believed.
Subject another generation to horror stories, if you wish, but
don't think you are doing something to curb drug use.

It seems to me that the drug problem today is similar to the
alcohol problem of the 1920s, e.g., drive-by shootings, career
criminals created in youth, corruption in government. I am not an
advocate of drug use, but trying to legislate against it seems to
create more problems than it attempts to solve.

Curt Pratsky
Porstmouth, VA