DRUG FREE

Students Need Help Learning From Mistakes

It's official: Just saying "no" to drugs isn't enough -- especially in
schools. New guidelines from the federal Office of National Drug Control
Policy emphasize that suspending or expelling drug-using students without
serious attempts at counseling and treatment is a template for creating
drug-using dropouts.

And that's a mistake communities can't afford to make, considering the
long-term costs in law-enforcement, social services and health care -- not
to mention the tragedy of lost potential.

Recent medical research shows that adolescent brains undergo tremendous
changes on the way to adulthood; drugs take a heavy toll on areas that aid
learning, memory, problem solving and impulse control. Further, students
who use drugs or alcohol are statistically more likely to drop out, and
dropouts, in turn, are more likely to commit crimes, be unemployed and
depend on welfare.

The Wichita school district is among those that deserve praise for being
ahead of the curve when it comes to helping students get off drugs and stay
in school; it adopted policies to do just that way back in 1999, and more
recently has developed a spectrum of alternative- school options. (Drug
sellers, on the other hand, get the boot.) Although some parents would
prefer a "one strike and you're out" rule for all those involved with drugs
- -- under the assumption that it will be someone else's child who strays
from the straight and narrow -- recent studies show that punishment alone
is less likely to stop drug use.

The 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, released last month,
indicates that nearly 11 percent of students age 12 to 17 are current drug
users. But students in that age group were significantly less likely to
drink or smoke marijuana if they believed that their parents would strongly
disapprove.

Working together and offering students firm but compassionate guidance,
parents and schools can have a tremendous, positive influence.

Students who are trying to stay away from drugs -- as well as those who are
trying to learn from their past mistakes -- need structure, support,
counseling, education and a reason to be off the streets.

As the federal reports show, they can find all that in school systems that
say no to drugs but yes to them.