ILLEGAL DRUGS TIED TO OTHER CRIMES

The article Of drugs and death, published in the Mobile Register on
Jan. 14, clearly shows the extent of the illegal drug problem in the
Mobile area. Over 50 percent of the homicides and an even higher
percentage of robberies, burglaries and other crimes are related to
illegal drugs in one way or another.

Our local police and law enforcement personnel do the best they can
to apprehend and detain the perpetrators of these crimes. This has
been going on for over 30 years -- we call it the war on drugs.

The sad fact is that law enforcement cannot win this war. There
aren't enough of them to complete the mission. Our military can't
keep the drugs from being smuggled into the country. Over 14 million
Americans break our laws by using illegal drugs. Some of them are
clergy, some of them are doctors or lawyers, and lots of them are
children.

A recent study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance
Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University reported that 60 percent of
America's high school students are attending schools where drugs are
used, kept and sold.

The report goes on to state that the most troubling indictment is
that the widespread availability of drugs in schools is due to the
malignant neglect of parents, teachers, administrators and students
themselves.

Isn't it time to address this problem in our schools? There are
drug-free schools in our community. Let's find out what they are
doing to help their children. Let's have PTAs and school boards
discuss our local problems openly and honestly to find methods of
deterring drug use that are acceptable to parents.

The recently passed education bill provides increased federal funding
for things such as testing students for illegal drug use, locker
searches, counseling services and the like. Let's take full advantage
of these resources and make our schools drug free.

GEORGE KRIETEMEYER