USE, ABUSE AND MIXED MESSAGES

In last Friday's Daily, regular columnist Jeff McAbee hit a few
nerves when he took up the touchy topic of high school drug and
alcohol use. Jeff, who also happens to be a campus supervisor at
Summit High, remarked on his experience of finding a couple of empty
beer cans in the boys' restroom, as well as the fact that a former
student was recently arrested after allegedly selling pot in the high
school. In what I thought was a well-written and thoughtful essay on
use and abuse, Jeff made a point to note that not all SHS students
are up to no good, and remarked on some of the hypocrisy that
accompanies our messages as parents to our children.

Was Jeff wrong to touch this topic? It was interesting to see some
student responses in letters to the editor. One student, the editor
of the school newspaper, blasted Jeff for daring suggest SHS students
are anything but angels, while another decried what he sees as
wide-spread abuse in school and suggested draconian measures for stemming it.

As a former SHS student myself who's also had three children pass
through those halls, I printed Jeff's column with no misgivings.
While use and abuse of drugs, alcohol and tobacco are a factor in any
high school, it's always been more of a problem up here, where a
party and vacation mentality reign and even the signs welcoming folks
to Summit proclaim us to be a "playground" (something I protested
vehemently, to no effect, back in the 1990s when the signs went up).
Meanwhile, as we sternly warn kids never to touch any of this stuff
until the day they turn 21 (when, magically, they will be able to
handle it with adult-like aplomb), we as a society barrage ourselves
with an endless stream of ads promoting the very products we
proscribe for our kids. As the Summit Prevention Alliance folks and
others are now taking pains to point out, this extends to insidious
efforts by the tobacco industry to create and market new products
targeted at children. And let's not forget Big Alcohol, forever
creating more high-powered quaffs no doubt aimed, in part, at kids.
Whipped-cream-flavored vodka, anyone?

In the face of all that, our institutional message to kids is akin to
the abstinence approach to sex: Don't ever do it (until magical age
or status is reached), period. Human nature being what it is and kids
being kids, the best way to pique interest in something is to issue a
blanket condemnation like this. Parents operating on a more realistic
playing field can and should do more: We can talk frankly about sex
and procure birth control when the time comes. We can also share with
our older children what we know about alcohol and drugs. Assuming
we're not angels, either, most of us can relate with real-world
anecdotes the difference between, say, drinking a beer and downing a
brimming cup of Everclear punch. Not all things in the category
"drugs" are the same, and there is a difference between smoking a
joint and mainlining heroin. And here are 47 excellent reasons to
never, ever try meth or cocaine.

As parents, we spend a lot of time trying to prepare our kids for
life, but we often fall down on these uncomfortable topics that can
have the gravest of consequences. Shying away from sex education and
getting all squeamish about birth control results in a lot of teen
pregnancies, while sending mixed messages about drugs and alcohol
(one in the same, really: the distinction and split legality is part
of the problem) almost assures negative results when our kids start
confronting these substances outside the home.

So to the young Tiger Tracks editor who called Jeff's column "smut"
and "a disgrace," I would say this: If you'd like to continue in
journalism, embrace those who have the courage in print to speak
uncomfortable truths. Debate the issue, for sure, but don't vilify
the writer. For the other student who suggested having "drug dogs"
sniffing around at the school daily, consider the slippery slope of
such an action, particularly as it relates to your rights as an
American under the Constitution.

And finally, county commissioners, can we make at least one small
gesture and take down those stupid "Colorado's Playground" signs?