Fighting Back: Introduction

OUR CHILDREN AND THEIR FUTURE ARE WORTH FIGHTING FOR

The deadly sniper who has methodically slain men and women in Maryland,
Virginia and Washington, D.C. during the past two weeks has riveted
attention not only in the region, but across the nation. We are horrified
that such evil might prey on a population - plucking a victim here and
there in deadly randomness.

Yet there is a killer loose here in South Mississippi, taking young lives
from our midst as certainly and unpredictably as the sniper who continues
to strike fear around the nation's capital.

Drug use among teens here should be every bit as alarming as the sniper,
for there is an army of pushers, a sales force of alarming proportions
plucking off our children one at a time, destroying their lives as
certainly as the rifle shot of an unknown assassin.

Today The Sun Herald begins an eight-day series of reports intended to help
readers in South Mississippi to understand the grand scale of the problem
we face. From this undertaking, we hope, will come a unified plan of action
which will help us overcome this scourge, a problem of such dimension that
it has overwhelmed law enforcement, parents and schools.

All of this information is being provided during Red Ribbon Week, a time
during which schools and community eyes are focused on drug awareness. With
the support of 16 concerned South Mississippi businesses and organizations,
21,000 copies of these newspapers will be delivered to schools across South
Mississippi each day so that the greatest victims of drugs - our students -
will be able to read about the problem themselves.

They will read the words of those who live on the front lines of the war
which plays out quietly in our midst every day of the year: the victims,
the police, the parents, the medical professionals.

Many of you will be shocked to learn that drug use among students is
beginning at an even earlier age. It is not uncommon for 8- and 9-year-olds
to be users, and very young children are now trading sexual favors for
their drugs.

Many parents are in denial of the facts, believing the problem is with
someone else's children, not their own.

Even more troubling, the problem often involves the parents themselves,
including parents who throw keg parties on weekends or allow the use of
marijuana in the home.

There is a myth among many users that their involvement in drugs is a
personal choice, and that it affects no one but themselves. Yet the costs
to society are massive, both in terms of crime and social consequences, and
in the end are paid by all of us.

Our Special Report also focuses on those who are proving that it is
possible to fight back and to win victories in this battle.

"Fighting Back" is the name of our series because that is where we are as a
people. The alternative to fighting back is to concede victory to those who
visit so much pain and suffering on our children and our communities.

We are too tough, too resilient, to give up, so we must engage this foe
until it is vanquished.

Like terror, like the sniper, drugs are insidious killers that creep in
silently from the dark edges of our lives and then strike fear and pain
deep into our hearts and minds.

But even as we must track down and capture, or kill the sniper, even as we
must target terrorism until the last cell is eliminated, we must go on the
offensive and destroy those who visit their enterprise of death and
destruction on our children's lives.

Knowledge and education are the key ingredients to empowerment, and we hope
that this week's Special Report will empower South Mississippi to win the
battle that will save the lives of our children.

Fighting back is not a spectator sport. It will require the best effort of
every caring and concerned citizen. In such a fight there is but one place
to be, and that is in the game.

Now, it's time for adults to dare. Time for every parent to dare to just
say no, I won't look the other way. Time for every school official to dare
to say no, I won't downplay drug problems that arise for fear that my
school's reputation will suffer.