PAINFUL REALITY

Our View: Drug And Alcohol Abuse Ruins Lives.

ITEM: A 29-year-old man murders his parents in their Plumstead home, then
takes his own life a day later. He previously had spent time in drug rehab
for cocaine addiction and leaves a suicide note warning family members to
stay away from drugs.

ITEM: A New Hope man in his 30s is killed in a fall. His blood alcohol
content when he dies is 0.36, more than 31/2 times over the legal limit for
driving.

ITEM: An oral surgeon with a history of drug-related problems is charged in
Bucks County court with performing oral surgery while high on the drug Demerol.

It doesn't take a genius to see the common thread running through these
three otherwise unrelated tragedies reported last week. These are not
isolated incidents. Check the daily police log for cases of underage
drinking (sometimes with parental consent) and drunken- driving arrests.
Consider the measures school officials are taking to keep drugs out of
their buildings. Talk to people whose lives and relationships have been
shattered by drug addiction.

No one has to prove that substance abuse is a one-way ticket to hell on
Earth. The evidence is massive, and irrefutable. Unfortunately, that
evidence continues to grow, even in the face of anti-drug efforts in the
media, in communities and particularly in the schools.

Substance abuse and addiction are a plague on every level of society. The
substances themselves may differ, but the end result is always the same.

So is the so-called ripple effect. Someone who gets high or drunk doesn't
just hurt himself or herself. Family, friends, loved ones and even perfect
strangers are very often hurt as well.

Over the past few weeks we have become a nation rightly concerned about a
potentially deadly spore. That's the attitude we should have toward illegal
drugs and the irresponsible consumption of alcohol. The epidemic already
has Xtaken hold. We have to find a way to conquer it, or it will surely
conquer us.