THE REAL QUESTION IS, WHY ARE PEOPLE IN PAIN?

I am writing in response to a letter published in the July 2 issue
regarding DARE.

Though I agree that most drug education only tends to make teens more aware
of new drugs and how to use them, I wonder at the wisdom of drug testing.
What's the point? Do we want to fill prisons with drug users? And once we
have identified users, then what? Force them into drug rehab? Not to
mention the fact that years of 'wars on drugs' have proven to be a losing
battle. The simple fact is that all of these attempts forget to ask the
basic question 'why do people use?'

No matter what is on the surface, it all comes down to the same thing: pain.

Alia Gordon