DRUG USE AMONG YOUNG REACHING EPIC PROPORTIONS

The books are closing on the second year of our still-new millennium and
we've got some very serious concerns about the direction we are allowing our
region to be swept.

Drug use by our younger generation is an epidemic that promises to become a
plague.

Don't think us sanctimonious in our concern. We know that every generation
has had its dark side.

But this problem isn't your typical generational flirtation with civil
disobedience. It's not about young people cutting ties with their parents'
generation, rebelling against authority or making statements.

It's a matter of life and death.

The drugs out there now aren't recreational, they are life-altering and
life-threatening. Crystal methamphetamine, oxycodone and crack cocaine are
drugs that suck the life out of their users, and they make no distinctions
between the economic, social or educational standings of their victims. When
these drugs take hold, they don't let go until their victims have nothing
left to take. We are losing too many of our next generations to these
pharmaceutical parasites now, and the body count is certain to climb. The
immediate results are obvious.

Young people are wasting their talents, their ambitions and their lives. The
long-term effects of this plague are frightening. Who will be left to lead
us, to continue the fight to move this region into economic prosperity? This
is not a Chicken Little warning.

The sky is falling. We'd damn well better be finding a way to shore it up.