CUT DRUG ABUSE TO REDUCE ERIE'S POVERTY RATE

For the past six months, I have attended the public forums and
workshops on poverty and early childhood education in Erie and America.

It is agreed that many factors cause poverty, but I will focus on
issues with which I have professional experience and knowledge.

I am a registered pharmacist, and during my 35-plus years as Director
of Pharmacy Services, both in government and the private industry, I
have taught thousands of individuals about drug, alcohol and health
issues.

To increase and support early educational endeavors for our children,
we must first address the abuse of drugs, both legal and illegal, and
alcohol.

I was the first pharmacist on the East Coast to start the "Methadone
Program" with Dr. B. Kissin in Brooklyn in the early 1970s, dispensing
methadone and counseling addicts on the dangers of heroin and other
drugs that could kill them or their unborn child.

I have collaborated, assisted and cooperated with local police
departments, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and school programs such
as Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.). I have also been a
community instructor on medication management.

At the May 27 Economic Summit on Early Childhood Education, Dr. Judy
Cameron, a University of Pittsburgh neuroscientist, gave a
presentation on "The Science of Early Brain Architecture and the
Future of Early Childhood Policy."

Yet there was no discussion relative to the environmental factors in a
household. How many children are exposed to secondary/passive illegal
and legal smoke? When a mother inhales illegal substances (marijuana
and crack cocaine), the effect on the developing fetus is magnified
two-to 10-fold.

Our counseling program in Brooklyn had an average success rate of 30
percent with females (some pregnant, some not) who asked me questions
that I answered in plain truth: "If you keep this up, you are going to
die early or you are going to lose your baby. Period."

Those in the methadone program who did not pass the drug screen were
dropped from the program after one warning. Addicts developed trust
because I talked to them in confidence and was a source of good and
reliable drug information. I was "the man" who knew drugs.

Many will counter this point because of their agendas. Medical
marijuana has been legalized in 14 states. The dummying up of America
will continue if we don't educate individuals that marijuana has equal
or more toxic effects than alcohol.

It is only when deaths hit families and friends that the anti-drug
message sinks in.

In the past 20 years, the family has fragmented so that there is no
male hero for the child. There was an added positive response from
those I helped when they came from a family unit with a mother and
father, because family members have to reinforce this message.

Why has there been such an increase in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder in our children during the same time period? The fact is that
drugs change the maturing of cells in the body and the brain. The mere
fact that we are addressing early education for children after birth
but are not addressing the effects of both legal and illegal drugs
before birth, resulting in mental retardation, a decrease in the
attention span and learning abilities of that young child in school,
is somewhat backward.

There is debate about whether poverty causes drug abuse or drug abuse
causes poverty. I believe it's the latter.

I recommend a written contract/commitment between parent(s) and
assistance program managers (private or government-run) with specific
guidelines to decrease the usage of illegal drugs.

If the commitment is to raise a person out of poverty, then there has
to be a commitment from the person to help themselves, too.

If the government orders that all recipients who receive government
financial support, not including the elderly or those with
disabilities and legitimate medical conditions, must submit to random
drug urine tests, there will be a drastic drop in drug abuse and
subsequently a reduction in poverty.

If an individual fails the drug test twice in 60 days, they would
forfeit financial support for 12 months and be required to attend a
drug-abuse program to re-enter the program. If they fail again, they
should be permanently removed from all government-assistance programs.

Many citizens have to submit to random drug screens, at any time, when
we are employed but those receiving government funds have no
responsibility or accountability to either the government, the program
or themselves. Why do we hold these individuals to different standards?

When programs don't contain measurements, standards and contracts for
accountability, they will fail and poverty will continue.

Let me close with two quotes: "All truths are easy to understand once
they are discovered the point is to discover them" (Gallileo) and "Is
silence an endorsement?" (Aliota).

I welcome comments in a continuous dialogue on the
topic.