How do we address the drug epidemic?

BETTER, EARLIER EDUCATION

In regards to the disturbing epidemic of OxyContin/heroin use on the North
Shore, I think it's time to take our heads out of the sand and develop a
reactionary community antidote as gripping as the drugs are.

The attack has to be on all fronts -- as a combined effort from law
enforcement, with school departments, in conjunction with parental
reinforcement to saturate kids from the earliest age that this stuff kills,
period!

The mindset that it's not here yet, or, we haven't seen it, is textbook
denial. The reality is, it's coming for your kids, in your cities, in your
schools, in your house. It's a teenage cancer that's more ruthless than any
biological illness we have ever seen. The answers are still being
formulated.

Some suggestions:

1.) Establish with state and local funding detox facilities specializing in
opiate issues, treatment and rehab.

2.) Begin at the earliest age an anti-opiate program in the schools. There
may be an argument about innocence lost, but kids at that age listen.
Reinforcing how deadly this is at an early age will arm them with the
conviction they will need later on through repetition to resist that first,
life-threatening mistake. Like other programs (about talking to strangers,
etc.) the repercussions of not addressing serious subjects at elementary
school levels are far more devastating than being honest about the dangers
children face.

3.) Everyone from kids to parents, schools to law enforcement, hospitals to
newspapers have to work together, communicate, address the problem head-on,
full speed. I can't stress enough the importance, at the earliest ages, of
changing the mindset of the kids about the acceptability of experimenting
with these killers.

Hopefully, over a small period of time, the kids growing up through this
type of program will be immune to the lure because of their early home and
school reinforcement, making the reality the deterrent.

Eddie Lendall

Peabody