ANTI-DRUG AGENTS: GOOD PARENTS

The discovery of a little marijuana at Alderman Elementary School is
distressing, but it's not that surprising. Kids bring to school what they
find elsewhere.

That doesn't necessarily mean they're going to use it. But they, or maybe
their friends, will be tempted to.

The episode will be useful if it reminds all parents that such dangers
abound, even for children of elementary school age. It is parents, of
course, who bear most of the responsibility for lessening those dangers.

It is they who can provide safe and healthful homes and set good examples
for their children. It is they who can give their children the love and
support that can make them strong enough to resist the peer pressures that
are sure to come. It is they who can stay close enough to their children to
notice when something might be going awry.

Teachers and principals play important roles, of course. But they can do
only so much.

In this case, school officials have suspended three children for 10 days
and have talked with their parents.

Certainly parents should be concerned about marijuana.

But they should be equally alert to cigarettes and alcohol, which are more
commonly used by younger children. Being legal hardly makes them safer than
pot.