CULTURE HARMFUL TO OUR CHILDREN

Kathleen Parker's Aug. 6 column "Getting smart about drugs" could not have
been more wrong. Parker stated that drug use and drug abuse are different.
True enough, but how does one get to drug abuse? Does she think Barbara
Eden's son started drug use shooting heroin? Many begin by smoking
marijuana, the same drug Parker claims is simply an anxiety-reducing agent.

Parker believes the drug subculture survives because it is forbidden and
that makes it attractive. I think it survives because people become
addicted to the escape that drugs provide. This escape becomes an addiction
that needs to be fed by better methods of escape, i.e. better drugs.
Suddenly, users are abusers and they can't remember when they weren't using.

Marijuana is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for a reason:
It's not good for us. It's a gateway to other drugs. It exposes our
children and our loved ones to people and to a culture that pushes them to
experiment.

What Parker fails to realize is that marijuana is used by young children.
The beauty of children is that they believe nothing bad will ever happen to
them. That is also the frightening part of children - as parents, we know
the truth; that's what keeps us up at night.

Bad things happen. Ask Barbara Eden.

Christine Logslett,
South Milwaukee