ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 23, 1996 TAG: 9608230039
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO
DONNA SHALALA is right: A surge in drug use among teen-agers is a bipartisan issue. ``These are all of our children.''
Of course, Shalala, Clinton's secretary of health and human services, doesn't think for a minute that this will dissuade Republicans from making a partisan issue of the problem. Marijuana smoking among teens increased by nearly 150 percent, and teens' overall drug usage nearly doubled, from 1992 to 1995 - on Clinton's watch. Administration officials concede they haven't pushed hard enough for drug-abuse prevention programs.
So, by all means, let's get political about this. Can we, though, be more creative than simply to ratchet up the failed war on drugs? More preventive efforts, not more jail cells, are what's needed.
To no one's surprise, Bob Dole, the GOP presidential nominee, has already jumped on the issue. He calls the latest data ``nothing short of a national tragedy.'' With recent disclosures of past drug use by White House staffers - and with Clinton's ``didn't inhale'' remark of '92 still the punch line of countless talk-show jokes - Dole and his surrogates are sure to contend that the president has winked off use of pot and other illegal drugs as not serious enough for the heavy moralizing that is his wont.
Cheap shot? Maybe. But with the Democrats keeping ``Buttman'' on Dole's heels - suggesting at every turn that tobacco-industry contributions have desensitized the Republican to the seriousness of cigarette smoking among teens - it probably strikes Dole as a fair-enough quid pro quo. Never mind that tobacco is thousands of times more deadly than drugs.
Politics aside, the increase in teens' drug usage is a problem, and it should concern all of us - including kids, who face peer pressure that can end up diminishing their lives' potential. Parents, many of whom aren't sufficiently engaged with the risk. Teachers, who know it's nigh impossible to impart an education to a teen-age hophead, if perchance the hophead makes it to school.
And health professionals. The national survey that reported teens' rising use of marijuana, cocaine and LSD - as well as beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages - was accompanied by a report that showed drug-related emergency-room visits have increased significantly since 1992.
Law-enforcement officials, too, must be concerned, given the well-established link between drugs and crime - and the continuing national tragedy of treating drug abuse more as a crime than a health problem.
Shalala is suggesting that, if re-elected, Clinton will do better. Dole also is saying that, if elected, he will do better - promising to ``make the drug war priority No. 1 again.''
The latter promise is not reassuring. The drug war has failed miserably both as metaphor and policy. Since interdiction and incarceration clearly don't work, it's time to give the health-and-education model a try.
Meanwhile, states and local communities - parents, teachers, health professionals, law-enforcers and, importantly, other teens - can do better than to wait for federal solutions. They can take the lead, with positive peer pressure, education, prevention and treatment programs. The message should be that drug addiction among teen-agers is uncool and no joke.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB