DENIAL NOT AN OPTION IN THE WAR ON DRUGS

There are no safe havens from the scourge of drugs - no communities, however
affluent, no schools, and no families.

Sometimes that fact of life is easy to forget. It's so much more comfortable
to live with the fiction that drug abuse is someone else's problem than to
deal with the sad reality that it is everyone's problem. Good kids from good
families in good neighborhoods are not exempt. If we didn't know that
before, we surely know it now. A recent Herald series documented the growing
problem of cheap and readily available heroin on the streets of Boston and
in many of the state's suburbs. Then, before the ink was dry on that series,
John Woods, 17, a hockey standout at Malden Catholic High, was found dead of
an overdose of OxyContin, possibly used in combination with Klonopin, an
anti-anxiety medication. His girlfriend, Kaylee O'Brien, a Matignon High
sophomore, remains in grave condition apparently from the same drug
cocktail.

It is a tragedy beyond words. But most tragedies at least have the effect of
waking people up, of making them aware of a problem and of jump-starting
efforts to solve it.

In nearby Somerville that seems to be just what is happening. A Wednesday
night meeting at Somerville High in the wake of Woods' death, attracted
hundreds of teens and their parents, all seeking to know more about this
deadly prescription painkiller.

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone struck precisely the right tone when he
said, ``We will win this war. We will stand side by side.''

That's what it will take - parents, teachers, school administrators and kids
standing side by side. But before that can happen someone needs to first
acknowledge that a problem exists.

Unfortunately, other schools - schools like Matignon - remain in denial.
School officials released this statement in the wake of the tragedy: ``Drug
use among children plagues all academic environments, including Matignon. As
a Catholic school, Matignon High School provides a safe, nurturing
environment for young men and women to grow spiritually, academically and
socially.''

Well, that must mean everything's fine, no?

Meanwhile, a former coach told the Herald that he has personally taken pills
out of the hands of kids and walked down to the dean's office only to be
told, ``What do you want me to do about it?''

That's a shocking allegation, and it's hardly the only one.

Caring parents need to demand better from school officials.

Somerville has the right idea. When it comes to drug abuse, denial is simply
not an option.