DRUGS STILL A THREAT TO OUR TEENS

A recent national study indicates teen-agers now have more trouble buying
alcohol and tobacco products than they do purchasing marijuana.

Talk about your mix of good and bad news.

The study seems to indicate programs designed to curtail underage drinking
and smoking are effective.

Likewise, programs that stress drug-free schools seem to be working, as 63
percent of 1,000 teens polled said their schools are drug-free.

"I think we're starting to see the fruition of some of those programs,"
Gerald Tirozzi, executive director of the National Association of Secondary
School Principals, told The Associated Press.

"There has been a sense that the drug problem, while not solved, has been
improving," he said.

While education programs deserve some of the credit, schools' hard-line
stance against illegal substances, including tobacco, undoubtedly plays a
major role.

But while our schools seem to be more drug-free, it remains questionable
whether alcohol, tobacco and drug use is down among teens.

According to The Associated Press, the federal center for Disease Control
and Prevention estimates that 47 percent of high school teens have smoked
marijuana, 24 percent have used other illicit drugs and 81 percent have
drunk alcohol.

The apparent fact that teens now find marijuana easier to get than alcohol
or tobacco seems to point that we still have plenty to do before drugs are
no longer a threat to our teen-agers.

Federal and state programs that have been effective should be continued.
Schools, and more importantly parents, must remain vigilant in their
efforts to educate and protect teens, who are at a highly vulnerable time
in their lives.

The war against drugs is long and hard. And most likely, it will never be over.

John G. Miller