Pubdate: Fri, 30 Aug 2002 Source: Daily Herald (IL) Copyright: 2002 The Daily Herald Company Contact: http://www.dailyherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/107 Author: Meg Maenpaa POLICIES DON'T MAKE ANY SCHOOL DRUG-FREE On Page 8 of the Aug. 26 Health and Fitness section, there was a short article with the misleading headline, "Most teens say their schools are drug-free." Not until the second paragraph does the article reveal that there is an increase in the number of schools with a specific no-drugs- permitted policy. While it might attract the reader's eye, I think the headline did not properly summarize the content of the article. A no-drug policy is not the same thing as drug-free. In this day and age, I don't think any school is drug-free. Some might have more or less of a problem, but all schools have one, whether they admit it or not. Twenty-five years ago, there were drugs in my high school in Wheaton. There was no "drug-free" policy, but we all knew drugs were not allowed in school. Just because a school has a drug-free policy does not mean we can play ostrich, bury our heads in the sand and pretend that drugs are not being used and abused by our children. I am not sure that knowing 630 out of 1,000 students said their schools have a drug-free policy gives us much useful information at all. The other 370 students' schools would most certainly take action when drugs were found on their premises. Especially with misleading headlines, the reader needs to discern what the article is really saying. Meg Maenpaa Carpentersville - --- MAP posted-by: Beth