PUT NUMBERS WITH DISTRICTS

I don't usually agree with Larry Seguin, who often writes to us about what
he feels is the uselessness of the war on drugs. But we do agree with him
that the Seaway Valley Council for Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention
in Canton (NY) is doing a real disservice by surveying the 18 school
districts in the county on drug use, but not insisting that the results be
broken down by individual school district. Parents can handle the shock.

The individual school board members and school administrators should tell
the council their districts will not participate if the results are not
broken down by schools.

St. Lawrence County is too large for county-wide results to serve any real
purpose. Communities need to know how they are doing compared to other
communities in St. Lawrence County.

Members of the county legislature should also insist that the agency break
the results down. If they don't the results won't mean anything because
everyone will say that the drugs are in other communities or another school
district. If the survey is forthright, the parents, school boards and
school "family" will know.