How do we address the drug epidemic?

NO SUBSTITUTE FOR CARING PARENTS

I was surprised and disappointed by the manner with which you have framed
the question, "What are we to do about 'educating' our children with regard
to the scourge of drugs, most recently, things like OxyContin and heroin?"

You ask: Should law enforcement or schools take the lead in this effort?

Much of the problem of kids and drugs is implied in the question as you have
posed it. We should see as primary neither cops nor teachers when in comes
to something as personal and critical as drug use by our children. This is
the domain first and foremost of mother and fathers, guardians, and other
immediate family.

Our culture lets parents off the hook far too easily. What we hear is: "We
both work. It is hard always to be there."

Well, I would say, that is a cop-out. Too many parents are too quick to
assign the responsibility to others for doing their work. I am not prepared
or inclined to let anyone be there except for me, as a parent. That is the
responsibility I took on when I chose to become a parent. It goes with the
territory. And if you don't accept that, you have no right being a parent.

I also hear arguments, or I would say excuses, that it is hard to read the
face of a (normally) moody teenager; that teen-age behavior is erratic
inherently. I simply don't buy this.

There is no substitute, I repeat, no substitute, for one or both parents
sitting at the dinner table every night (or pretty close to it) talking
candidly and openly to their kids about the perils of drugs. There is no
substitute for parents really looking into the faces of their kids to detect
something that might be going on, and then acting.

Is this a panacea? Of course not. Will there still be kids who get into
trouble even using the formula I have described? Unfortunately, yes, there
will be.

But if we are looking at maximizing the likelihood of bringing up drug-free
children, and minimizing the stories of kids who go down the path of
substance abuse, this is the best way, far and away, to bring about that
outcome.

Call me old-fashioned, call me a traditionalist, call me an idealist. But
show me a well-adjusted, drug free-child, and I will show you an involved
and caring family.

Robert V. McGrath

Peabody