Pubdate: Sat, 15 Jan 2005 Source: Salem News (MA) Copyright: 2005 Essex County Newspapers Contact: http://www.salemnews.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3466 Author: Eddie Lendall Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n042/a05.html How do we address the drug epidemic? BETTER, EARLIER EDUCATION In regards to the disturbing epidemic of OxyContin/heroin use on the North Shore, I think it's time to take our heads out of the sand and develop a reactionary community antidote as gripping as the drugs are. The attack has to be on all fronts -- as a combined effort from law enforcement, with school departments, in conjunction with parental reinforcement to saturate kids from the earliest age that this stuff kills, period! The mindset that it's not here yet, or, we haven't seen it, is textbook denial. The reality is, it's coming for your kids, in your cities, in your schools, in your house. It's a teenage cancer that's more ruthless than any biological illness we have ever seen. The answers are still being formulated. Some suggestions: 1.) Establish with state and local funding detox facilities specializing in opiate issues, treatment and rehab. 2.) Begin at the earliest age an anti-opiate program in the schools. There may be an argument about innocence lost, but kids at that age listen. Reinforcing how deadly this is at an early age will arm them with the conviction they will need later on through repetition to resist that first, life-threatening mistake. Like other programs (about talking to strangers, etc.) the repercussions of not addressing serious subjects at elementary school levels are far more devastating than being honest about the dangers children face. 3.) Everyone from kids to parents, schools to law enforcement, hospitals to newspapers have to work together, communicate, address the problem head-on, full speed. I can't stress enough the importance, at the earliest ages, of changing the mindset of the kids about the acceptability of experimenting with these killers. Hopefully, over a small period of time, the kids growing up through this type of program will be immune to the lure because of their early home and school reinforcement, making the reality the deterrent. Eddie Lendall Peabody - --- MAP posted-by: Josh