DRUG LEGALIZATION NOT CHILD'S PLAY

Substance Abuse Endangers Many

One of the mantras of the drug legalization crowd is that individuals
should have the right to use whatever substances they choose in the
confines of their own homes, specifically the perceived non- threatening
drug of marijuana.

If only society had a guarantee that drug legalization would result only in
individuals using illegal drugs in the sanctity of their own homes and
without harming others.

But that is not reality.

Oftentimes the side effects of drug use affect more than just the user.

For this reason, any form of drug legalization could have tragic
consequences for children - a distinct possibility that should supersede
the questionable rights of people to use illegal drugs.

Anne Friemel, executive director of the Panhandle Assessment Center,
estimates that 85 percent of the kids in the PAC program have parents with
substance abuse problems, and many of these parents refuse treatment.

The PAC, which began in 1990, provides emergency shelter and long term
foster-care for children who have been removed from the home.

Jim Craig, a foster parent in the PAC and outpatient program director for
the Amarillo Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, said that children are
often overlooked when it comes to substance abuse.

"Any kind of addiction is a family disease," Craig said. "The parenting
skills are not there when they are doing drugs. (Children) get abandoned,
neglected, that sort of thing, and there can be physical and sexual abuse."

While drug legalization may remove the criminal element, it does not
address the suffering of children whose parents cannot or will not take
responsibility. Drug legalization will only make drugs more available and
exacerbate the problem.

The debate of incarceration vs. treatment continues, but in the case of
drug legalization, the argument has to be expanded from individual rights
to personal responsibility and the welfare of children.