A new anti-drug initiative is focusing on teenagers while encouraging
Hispanic parents to get more involved in their kids' lives.

"Papa, do you know what I did yesterday after school?" a teenage boy asks.

"Do you know where I like to shop? . . . Do you know where I'll be while
you're at work?"

The boy continues.

"Do you know that someone offered me marijuana?"

The teen speaks in what will be a nationally televised, Spanish-language
public service announcement introduced by the Bush Administration this week
in Little Havana.

The message: Parents need to stay involved in their kids' lives to help
steer them away from drugs.

Involucrarse funciona. Esta en tus manos, the message ends, meaning
"Getting involved works. It's in your hands."

"Familia is a strong force in protecting children from marijuana and other
drugs," said Columba Bush, wife of Gov. Jeb Bush. Their daughter Noelle has
struggled with substance abuse in the past. "By empowering parents, we can
help reduce drug use across the country."

Florida's First Lady and John P. Walters, director of the White House's
Office of National Drug Control Policy, hope the new campaign -- launched
at social service agency Abriendo Puertas -- will encourage Hispanic
parents to get more involved in their kids' lives. The ads are targeting
middle schoolers because, according to the White House, among
eighth-graders, Hispanics tend to have the highest rates of drug use.
Approximately one in 10 Hispanics between the ages of 12 and 17 reported
using illegal drugs in the preceding month, the office found.

The good news, though, is that in the past two years, there has been an 11
percent drop in national teen drug use, the nation's drug czar said. For
every one percent the rate drops, approximately 50,000 children won't start
using drugs that year.

But, Walters added, those numbers shouldn't deter the community's efforts
to eliminate the risk factors leading to substance abuse -- particularly
marijuana.

"Youth marijuana drug use is one of the most serious problems, but the area
of greatest ignorance," Walters said. "If you don't talk to your kids,
chances are that someone will -- and it won't be the message you want them
to hear."

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, Abriendo Puertas' Executive Director Rosa Pizzi and
the director of Florida's Office of Drug Control, James R. McDonough, also
spoke about ways to reduce marijuana use among Hispanic middle school students.

"This community has a significant Hispanic population," Diaz said. "It is
imperative that we make sure parents know the real dangers that exist with
drug us