Pubdate: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 Source: Detroit News (MI) Copyright: 2002, The Detroit News Contact: http://detnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/126 Author: Daniel D. Butterworth FALSE LINK TO ABUSE Drug czar John Walters would have us believe 80 percent of drug users abuse their children. This is, of course, untrue. The figure Walters uses in The News' Sept. 13 interview means that 80 percent of the people who have their children removed by a government child protective services agency use illegal drugs. But Walters' figure is off by 30 percent, according to the latest figure available from the Child Welfare League of America, and that is when we include alcohol. In addition, when one considers that many children are removed from the home not because of actual child abuse but because a parent uses some illegal drug, including cannabis, you begin to see the real picture behind this number. The government has "cooked the books" by taking children from their parents and holding them for the ransom of ending all illegal drug use. Of course, Walters believes this strategy is fine and dandy because, he reasons, any parent who uses illegal drugs is a child abuser. Strangely, he does not hold this same standard for parents who drink alcohol. Daniel D. Butterworth Lubbock, Texas - --- MAP posted-by: Beth