Pubdate: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 Source: Register-Guard, The (OR) Copyright: 2004 The Register-Guard Contact: http://www.registerguard.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362 Author: Ian Epstein CONFRONT DRUG, ALCOHOL ABUSE If I may offer an addendum to Cisco Robinson's letter of May 25. This may sound absurd, but I moved to this town to get away from drugs. If you think it's bad here, go live out in one of the rural counties; you can smell the methamphetamine epidemic seething in the background. Or, if it's an issue of finding things to do, Robinson could make an excursion to Portland. Eugene is something of a distant suburb to them, anyway. There's plenty to keep him busy up there. Portland is also the junkie capital of America. My point is, it's everywhere you go nowadays. Every community in this nation needs to acknowledge the problem and direct focus to it. What Robinson was getting at is that we need to address the underlying causes of drug and alcohol abuse, not simply enforce punitive measures on those who get caught. The problem is societal, medical and spiritual, not criminal. The methadone program was initiated under Republican Richard Nixon's administration. As for spirituality, there are solid reasons why there is particular emphasis in Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous for accepting God as we understand him or her. The issues confronting youth simply aren't a priority in most communities - and the issues of addicted youth count even less in our society. Ian Epstein Eugene - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin