POLICIES DON'T MAKE ANY SCHOOL DRUG-FREE

On Page 8 of the Aug. 26 Health and Fitness section, there was a short
article with the misleading headline, "Most teens say their schools are
drug-free."

Not until the second paragraph does the article reveal that there is an
increase in the number of schools with a specific no-drugs- permitted
policy. While it might attract the reader's eye, I think the headline did
not properly summarize the content of the article.

A no-drug policy is not the same thing as drug-free. In this day and age, I
don't think any school is drug-free. Some might have more or less of a
problem, but all schools have one, whether they admit it or not.

Twenty-five years ago, there were drugs in my high school in Wheaton. There
was no "drug-free" policy, but we all knew drugs were not allowed in
school. Just because a school has a drug-free policy does not mean we can
play ostrich, bury our heads in the sand and pretend that drugs are not
being used and abused by our children.

I am not sure that knowing 630 out of 1,000 students said their schools
have a drug-free policy gives us much useful information at all. The other
370 students' schools would most certainly take action when drugs were
found on their premises. Especially with misleading headlines, the reader
needs to discern what the article is really saying.

Meg Maenpaa

Carpentersville