News (Media Awareness Project) - US NC: Editorial: Another Kind Of Ruin |
| Title: | US NC: Editorial: Another Kind Of Ruin |
| Published On: | 2001-11-01 |
| Source: | Fayetteville Observer-Times (NC) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-25 05:41:36 |
ANOTHER KIND OF RUIN
Young People Need Rescue From Drug War's Rubble
Mary Easley is taking the time to remind communities that this is no time to forget the ongoing war that's taken a higher toll than the lives lost in the World Trade Center.
The casualties of the drug wars are more numerous than can be accurately counted. The attacks are cruelly aimed at the heart of families: their children.
Mary Easley, a lawyer and the wife of the governor of North Carolina, spoke in Robeson County at the Red Ribbon Campaign, whose goal is a drug-free community. That goal sometimes seems impossible. In some ways, alas, it is.
Narcotic trafficking is a global problem. Robeson County can't knock it out alone. Alcohol wrecked lives long before cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine became distributed even in small towns and family-friendly suburbs.
Still, it's not impossible to continue to reduce the casualties.
A community can't stop the influx of illegal drugs entirely. A community can't always keep minors from getting their hands on a legal drug -- alcohol.
When abused, beer, wine and liquor ruin young lives just as effectively as cocaine. It's without question a more frequent killer of young people, especially when alcohol is mixed with a steering wheel and an accelerator pedal.
Alcohol and narcotics are also potent parts of the recipe that creates adults who someday take part in child neglect and abuse.
Concentrating on young people, rather than the drugs, is Mrs. Easley's prescription for waging a good offense against drugs and alcohol. She noted that troubled, stressed and depressed teens use drugs to self-medicate. Part of the solution may be directing appropriate treatment for the depressed and that may be half the solution.
The other half would be a close family life -- the most important -- and youth activities that offer a young person peers who don't use narcotics and alcohol for entertainment value.
These are distracting times. But anthrax is not likely to be the deadliest thing that a community will need to battle.
The people in Robeson County can be commended for not being distracted from where its focus needs to remain.
Young People Need Rescue From Drug War's Rubble
Mary Easley is taking the time to remind communities that this is no time to forget the ongoing war that's taken a higher toll than the lives lost in the World Trade Center.
The casualties of the drug wars are more numerous than can be accurately counted. The attacks are cruelly aimed at the heart of families: their children.
Mary Easley, a lawyer and the wife of the governor of North Carolina, spoke in Robeson County at the Red Ribbon Campaign, whose goal is a drug-free community. That goal sometimes seems impossible. In some ways, alas, it is.
Narcotic trafficking is a global problem. Robeson County can't knock it out alone. Alcohol wrecked lives long before cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine became distributed even in small towns and family-friendly suburbs.
Still, it's not impossible to continue to reduce the casualties.
A community can't stop the influx of illegal drugs entirely. A community can't always keep minors from getting their hands on a legal drug -- alcohol.
When abused, beer, wine and liquor ruin young lives just as effectively as cocaine. It's without question a more frequent killer of young people, especially when alcohol is mixed with a steering wheel and an accelerator pedal.
Alcohol and narcotics are also potent parts of the recipe that creates adults who someday take part in child neglect and abuse.
Concentrating on young people, rather than the drugs, is Mrs. Easley's prescription for waging a good offense against drugs and alcohol. She noted that troubled, stressed and depressed teens use drugs to self-medicate. Part of the solution may be directing appropriate treatment for the depressed and that may be half the solution.
The other half would be a close family life -- the most important -- and youth activities that offer a young person peers who don't use narcotics and alcohol for entertainment value.
These are distracting times. But anthrax is not likely to be the deadliest thing that a community will need to battle.
The people in Robeson County can be commended for not being distracted from where its focus needs to remain.
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