Pubdate: Wed, 04 Sep 2002 Source: Pensacola News Journal (FL) Copyright: 2002 The Pensacola News Journal Contact: http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1675 Authors: Robert Sharpe, Anthony Lorenzo Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1507/a03.html SCARE TACTICS HURT The News Journal's Aug. 13 editorial offered excellent advice on preventing adolescent drug use. The importance of parental involvement in reducing drug use cannot be overstated. School-based extracurricular activities have also been shown to prevent drug use. They keep kids busy during the hours they're most prone togetting into trouble. In order for drug education to be effective it has to be credible. The most popular recreational drug and the one most closely associated with violent behavior is often overlooked by parents. That drug is alcohol, and ittakes far more lives every year than all illegal drugs combined. Alcohol may belegal, but it's still the number one drug problem. For decades drug education has been dominated by sensationalist programs like Drug Abuse Resistance Education. Good intentions are no substitute for effective drug education. DARE's scare tactics do more harm than good. Students who realize they've been lied to about marijuana often make the mistake of assuming that harder drugs like heroin are relatively harmless as well. This is a recipe for disaster. Drug education programs must be reality-based or they may backfire when kids are inevitably exposed to drug use among their peers. Robert Sharpe, Program Officer, Drug Policy Alliance, Arlington, Va. THE GOVERNMENT'S JOB Regarding, "Drugs will come and go, but parents can be there" (Opinion, Aug. 13), I have a comment. The article tells parents to deliver an honest anti-drug message. The problem is: Parents were exposed to the dishonest scare tactics which don't work on our children. Parents were taught by parents who grew up in the "Reefer Madness" days. Parents can't be expected to keep up with the latest research and the newest chemicals on the market. These are the jobs of the government: to educate the public and reduce the harm of drugs. Instead, we get Super Bowl ads that tell us our kids are terrorist supporters if they smoke a joint. At some point we have to discuss the government's failings to do its job. We have to tell kids what is in the pills they take. That requires testing and education. With all the money we spend on prisons and law enforcement, the government will fail to let parents know that the only harm in ecstacy use is dehydration and overheating. They will fail to educate the public that there would be no poisoned pills out there if it were a legal, regulated market. The government will fail to explore statistics of countries that have ended prohibition and that teen drug use actually drops when we stop fueling their rebelliousness. When will the government do its job and stop pointing the finger at parents? Anthony Lorenzo, Tampa - --- MAP posted-by: Alex