Pubdate: Mon, 2 Sep 2002 Source: Houston Chronicle (TX) Copyright: 2002 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspaper Contact: http://www.chron.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198 Author: Jerry Epstein DRUG DISASTER FOR KIDS The Chronicle Aug. 21 article, "Teens: Pot easier buy than cigarettes, beer," reported on teen drug use and said that "63 percent of students said their schools are 'drug-free'." What a farce. Just ask any teenager and watch his eyes roll: No school is "drug free." The survey did correctly note that illegal markets, the creation of drug prohibition, have made illegal drugs easier for teens to get than legal drugs in regulated markets. But Humpty Dumpty insists that drug prohibition "protects our children" -- go figure. By age 21, there is about a 75 percent chance that a young person has used an illegal drug. Officials don't talk much about that statistic. Drug prohibition has helped to make drug experimentation rampant, and it is this experimentation with illegal drugs -- whose identity or potency is unclear -- that accounts for some 80 percent of the deaths related to illegal drug use. Don't let the drug propaganda machine hide the fact that drug prohibition (no matter how well-intentioned) is a disaster for our children. Jerry Epstein, president, Drug Policy Forum of Texas, Houston - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom