Pubdate: Sun, 19 September 1999 Source: San Luis Obispo County Tribune (CA) Copyright: 1999 San Luis Obispo County Newspapers Contact: P.O. Box 112, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406-0112 Website: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/ PARENTS ARE THE FRONT LINE A fresh message about drugs, dristributed across the country by two national agencies, deserves the attention of every parent here on the Central Coast and every-where else where kids risk their health, their future and their lives for the thrill of getting high. The message may have a familiar ring, but the urgency struck us as greater than ever, even though the principal target is familiar: parents. "The most effective deterrent to drug use among kids isn't the police, or prisons, or politicians," says the blunt statement. "One of the most effective deterrents to drug use among kids is their parents. You may have heard or read similar words many times before, but not in such terms as those in this broadside. The message-it is more a challenge-is the joint effort of the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. It goes on to say that "kids who learn about the risk of drugs from their parents are 36 persent less likely to smoke marijuana than kids who learn nothing from them. They are 50 persent less likely to use inhalants, 56 persent less likely to use cocaine, 65 percent less likely to use LSD." And ge this: "Research also shows that 74 percent of all fourth-graders wish their parents would talk to them about drugs." Are fourth-graders in our area among them? All parents of such youngsters should ask themselves that question. The urgency of this campaign makes clear that while drug use may be out of the news from time to time, it is a constant crisis. The two agencies estimate that illegal drugs cost America "over $110 billion each year in treatment, enforcement, incarceration and social damage. Those billions, we're told, could build 169 hospitals or 687 universities; could operate 366 national parks, hire 278,481 high school teachers, hire 400,947 more post office clerks or put 75,862 new buses on the road. We don't know how those statistics were arrived at, given they are so precise. But even if the arithmetic is a bit skewed, the point is a powerful one. The message mat be aimed mostly at parents, but the truth is that the fight aginst drugs is the responsibility of all of us. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D