editorial comment Indeed, it's the parents' fault for believing that prohibiton works.

The Issue: More than half of U.S. secondary students will be returning this fall to schools where drugs are readily available.

Our Opinion: Too many parents expect teachers and others to protect their children from drugs, but the parents are the primary line of defense.


Parents are the key to winning the war against drug and alcohol abuse. The problem is too many of them have fled the battlefield, leaving the job of protecting their children to others.

But Joseph Califano, chairman of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, contended parents have more power than they realize to discourage their children from trying drugs and alcohol.

And that parental power is needed now more than ever.

When students return to the classroom in a few weeks, most of them will be returning to schools awash in drugs, Califano said.

A study conducted by the center found that more than six in 10 high school students will attend schools where drugs are part of everyday life. That is an increase of 41 percent from three years ago.

The increase is even greater for middle-school students, 28 percent of whom attend schools rife with drugs, a jump of 47 percent since 2002.

It should come as no surprise that students in schools where drugs are prevalent are three times more likely than their peers in drug-free schools to get stoned or drunk, according to the study.

“This is the biggest problem our children have,” said Califano, who was secretary of the former Department of Health, Education and Welfare in the Carter administration.

But Califano said the problem can be solved if more parents would take their responsibilities seriously. As evidence, he pointed to the study in which 88 percent of the youngsters said their parents didn’t care or cared very little if they drank.

By comparison, 26 percent of the youngsters who admit-ted to trying alcohol said their parents would be ex-tremely upset if they knew.

While parental disapproval is no guarantee that a child won’t experiment with drugs or alcohol, the study showed that is a strong deterrent.

Another strong deterrent is spending quality time together as a family. The study found that teenagers who ate dinner with their families several times a week were about half as likely to use drugs and alcohol.

“This problem for our kids is not going to be solved in courtrooms and legislative hearing rooms and schoolrooms,” Califano said, “It’s going to be solved in dining rooms and living rooms and across the kitchen tables.”

Although the criminal-justice system can reduce the availability of drugs and alcohol to youngsters, Califano said in terms of motivating their children, parents cannot outsource their responsibility to law enforcement or to the schools.

It is sad but many parents believe there is nothing they can do to solve the problem. In the study, 48 percent of the parents surveyed said there were drugs in the schools their children attended, but 56 percent of those parents said it was not realistic to try to eliminate the drugs from those schools.

However, Califano insisted that if parents can object loudly to the presence of asbestos in schools and expect to get action, they can do the same about the presence of drugs.

Whether parents believe it or not, they are the primary influence, for good or ill, in their children’s lives.

Children do pay close attention to what their parents say and do and form their values accordingly.

And because of that influence, as Califano said, parents can make the difference between a child becoming a hopeless addict or living a life free of substance abuse.


Posted by readingeagle at August 25, 2005 01:00 AM

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