PARENTS CAN HELP DRUG ABUSE

Beverly Johnson offers excellent advice and valid criticism in her June 5
column. The importance of parental involvement in reducing drug use cannot
be overstated. School-based extracurricular activities have also been shown
to reduce drug use. They keep kids busy during the hours they're most prone
to get into trouble. In order for drug education to be effective, it has to
be credible. The most popular recreational drug and the one most closely
associated with violent behavior is often overlooked by parents. That drug
is alcohol, and it takes far more lives every year than all illegal drugs
combined. Alcohol may be legal, but it's still the number one drug problem.

For decades drug education has been dominated by sensationalist programs
like the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. Good intentions are no
substitute for effective education. Every independent, methodologically
sound evaluation of DARE has found the program to be either ineffective or
counterproductive. The scare tactics used do more harm than good. Students
who realize they are being lied to about marijuana often make the mistake
of assuming that harder drugs like heroin are relatively harmless as well.
This is a recipe for disaster. Drug education programs need to be
reality-based or they may backfire when kids are inevitably exposed to drug
use among their peers.

Robert Sharpe, Program Officer

Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, D.C.