DON'T OVERLOOK ALCOHOL ABUSE

Regarding Judy Guenseth's Dec. 7 column: The importance of parental
involvement in reducing adolescent drug use cannot be overstated.
School-based extracurricular activities also have been shown to
reduce use. They keep kids busy during the hours they're most likely
to get into trouble.

In order for drug prevention efforts to effectively reduce harm, they
must be reality-based. The most popular drug and the one most closely
associated with violent behavior is often overlooked by parents. That
drug is alcohol, and it takes far more lives each year than all
illegal drugs combined. Alcohol may be legal, but it's still the No.
1 drug problem.

For decades, school-based drug prevention efforts have been dominated
by sensationalist programs like Drug Abuse Resistance Education. Good
intentions are no substitute for effective drug education.
Independent evaluations of DARE have found the program to be either
ineffective or counterproductive. The scare tactics used do more harm
than good.

Students who realize they've been lied to about marijuana may make
the mistake of assuming that harder drugs like methamphetamine are
relatively harmless as well. This is a recipe for disaster. Drug
education programs must be reality-based or they may backfire when
kids are inevitably exposed to drug use among their peers.

- -- Robert Sharpe is policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy,
Washington, D.C.