DEEP FLAWS

Your July 18 article titled "White House aims to combat teen drug use with
faith" described important issues regarding the relationship between public
officials and organized religion. However, the piece overlooked an equally
important reason why Jews, and all Americans, should be very skeptical of
this effort.

Unless the program embodies a total change of direction by the Office of
National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the effort described will extend that
office's long record of misinformation, reliance on ideology rather than
science and contempt for the intelligence and experience of teenagers.

These and other deep flaws in our approach to teens and drugs help ensure
that this issue is always with us.

The question of how government and religious institutions should work
together is important. It's just as important to recognize that, after 30
years of the approach taken by the ONDCP, the results are in. Just about
half of American high school graduates will have used an illegal substance.

Overall, more Americans are addicted to, dependent on, abusing and using a
wider variety of substances than ever before.

Steve Beitler

Palo Alto