ALL DRUG ABUSE SHOULD BE STOPPED

The front-page article, "Alcohol Abuse, Pot Use Down," contains a quote
from an official of Tennessee's Department of Health. She was very thrilled
with the figures, which indeed indicated some gratifying drops in the abuse
of alcohol and the use of pot between the years 2002 and 2003.

She stated, "We have made this a priority in Tennessee, (and) we're going
to continue doing what we are doing." Ron Stewart, a local senior pastor,
referred to current Baptist church preachings about the benefits of total
abstinence from drugs and alcohol.

However, in the article on page A12, Stewart and U.S Rep. Zach Wamp note
that meth use remains a big problem, hurting users and their families.
"It's clearly on the increase," said Wamp. He also added that Congress must
better address prevention of meth use and illegal youth drinking.

It is great that the more ominous references to meth are included in the
article - even on page A12.

I seem to recall, that Tennessee is a, if not the, leading state in meth
production and use and that our own East Tennessee region is one, if not
the, leading region in our state.

According to our local and state law-enforcement officials, that is already
having a great influence on our rising health and crime problems.

You can bet your last nickel that corporations that are comparing various
regions for future investments are well aware of these statistics, as they
are also aware of the data on comparative achievement levels of public
school graduates. So let's not get too self-congratulatory.

If we are truly interested in improving the attractiveness of our region to
investments by top-quality employers, and if we are truly interested in
achieving the highest quality of life in this area, then we must go all out
for top-quality student achievements in our public schools, as well as the
virtual eradication of all abuses of alcohol and drugs - not just marijuana.

Many of us also feel that these are challenges for the media. It would be
rather easy to establish that public awareness is rather low in these regards.

The public can only apply pressures in the right direction if people and
especially voters are well informed on how we stack up on a nationwide and
worldwide basis and, more specifically, what our elected leaders could do
about it.

JOHN SHACTER

Kingston