MY UNOPENED LETTTER TO THE WORLD: 'JUST SAY NO' IS JUST NOT WORTH IT

Last Friday, the Supreme Court decided to take a deeper look into a case
involving Savana Redding, a 13-year-old girl who was strip-searched on
school grounds because of her alleged possession and distribution of
drugs.

And what favorite teenage drug were her teachers looking for? Pot?
Ecstasy? Prescription pills like Loritab, Adderall or Xanax?

Nope. Try ibuprofen.

Now granted, at 400-milligrams the pills were prescription strength
(barely), but was it really worth emotionally scarring a young girl just
to find out whether or not she had pills rarely used recreationally?

No.

In fact, the traumatic experience Redding went through is sure to have
more of an effect on her life than those pills will.

It's clear the adults in Redding's case dropped the ball.

However, blowing drug issues way out of proportion isn't anything new.
Since the Nixon administration, America's favorite pastime has been its
"War on Drugs," and while the Reagans, Clintons and just about everyone
else in Washington has had good intentions, our obsession with drug abuse
has gotten out of control. I clearly remember the D.A.R.E. program, an
ever-important curriculum designed to scare the hell out of middle-school
kids. At the time, it worked. I didn't want to go near anything remotely
resembling illegal substances, especially after my huge D.A.R.E officer
told us even being around pot would fry our brains. But, the older I got,
the more I realized rolling one joint doesn't automatically make you an
addict who endangers the life of everyone around them.

Then there was the "Just Say No" campaign, but as clever as that was, we
all know the best way to get kids to do something is to tell them not to
do it.

Now before you run off thinking I'm an advocate for drug use, let me
explain. People, especially young people, are going to experiment with new
things, whether it's drugs, alcohol, sex or any other part of life.

So while the Supreme Court decides whether or not to give school officials
authority to intervene when students are suspected of drug activity, I'd
encourage educators to focus on more important things in the classroom.

Instead of turning our schools into remote branches of the DEA, we should
spend more time, money and effort into improving public education. After
all, well-educated kids are going to make wise decisions.

The bottom line here is knowing when enough is enough. By all means, we
should educate kids about the dangers of drugs and take action in keeping
illegal substances off campuses, but we can't go so far as to violate a
student's privacy by conducting strip-searches without even consulting
their parents or police first. And if that's what it takes to keep the
future of America drug-free, it's just not worth it.