Pubdate: Mon, 13 Oct 2003
Source: Maui News, The (HI)
Contact:  2003 The Maui News
Website: http://www.mauinews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2259
Author: Jim Hylkema
Note: To read about the "ice epidemic" in Hawaii, go to
http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Hawaii .

NO REASON FOR WAR ON ICE TO END DIFFERENTLY 

We're going to wage a new war on ice. We've been in a steady war on all
drugs for 30 years and lost, but somehow this new war will be different.
Wow. I can't wait. 

Step back and think about this: A 12-year-old gets up in the morning to go
to school. His mother and father are in the kitchen drinking coffee and
smoking cigarettes (consuming the drug nicotine). The father leaves for
work. The mother takes a Valium (a legal narcotic) for her "nervous
condition." The child goes to school. His classmates are smoking marijuana
across the street. The child has a hard time in his new school environment
so Ritalin is offered. The child's uncle picks him up from school and works
on a six-pack, reinforced with a joint or two, on the way home. Finally
home, dad is on the lanai smoking dope and getting drunk. Mom is popping her
evening Valium and trying to catch up with dad in the booze department and
junior is thinking that drugs and alcohol must be OK.

Now how are going to turn that around? Get real. More "legal" drugs are
consumed in America than illegal drugs. Your body cannot tell the difference
between legal and illegal drugs. We are a nation of drug users.

Jim Hylkema

Kihei
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MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk