KIDS WHO DRINK NEED HELP

Recent articles in the Summit Daily News about teenage abuse of drugs
and alcohol are disturbing. Something is really wrong when kids think
that there is nothing to do around here except get high after they've
"hung out in Eric's parking lot or have seen all the current movies."

Other kids seem to think that the cops should lighten up because they
"have it under control."

Sure, most all of us have experimented with drugs or alcohol at an
early age. I can remember trying to mix gin and coca-cola at the age
of 15 with my friends "to be cool." (I get a headache 40-plus years
later just thinking about it.) However, it is the chronic usage of
drugs and alcohol that can and usually will lead to disaster. Parents,
siblings and friends of these kids must actively try to reverse the
mentality that doing drugs and alcohol is "cool".

I'm painfully reminded of two young soldiers in Vietnam whose names
are now on a granite wall in Washington, D.C. They thought they had it
"under control" too - until the night when they passed out from a drug
called hashish on sentry duty and exposed an entire platoon to an
attack from the rear.

In retrospect, we can only wish that someone (myself included) had
done more to get them help before it was too late.

There are children right here who obviously need help. It is possible
to make a real difference if we can get just one kid off drugs and
alcohol and into something more productive before it's too late.

When I see statements proclaiming that only 2-of-10 Summit High School
students use drugs and/or alcohol on an average week, I see nothing to
brag about. I view that as an urgent need to help two kids - and, if
they reject the help offered, then there is a need for further
corrective action in some form or another.

Doing nothing if you have an opportunity to point any child in the
right direction is something you may regret deeply later in life - I
know that to be true!

Dennis Kaiser

Dillon