Pubdate: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 Source: Summit Daily News (CO) Copyright: 2005 Summit Daily News Contact: http://www.summitdaily.com/home.php Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/587 Author: Bill Bauer Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n1344.a04.html DRINKING, DRUG LESSONS FOR TEENS MUST BE DELIVERED HONESTLY Undersheriff and drug commander Derek Woodman was right on point when he was quoted as saying, "Do I think it was different when I was in high school? Not really." (SDN, "Teenage Wasteland?" Aug. 15). At the inner city Roman Catholic high school I attended in the late 1950s, some of my classmates shot up with heroin in the johns and more than a few nipped stolen hard booze after school, often just as their parents did on the job and in cramped apartments. As the late poet Richard Brautigan wrote, "My teachers could have ridden with Jesse James for all the hours they stole from me." I'm convinced from personal observation, though I have no statistics to back me up, that today's widespread drug use and venereal disease are legacies of the Vietnam War. Disillusioned vets brought them back after being forced to participate in the Big Lie. We called herpes the "red siff." I recall, too, how I began as an adolescent to notice that many WWII combat veterans were closet alcoholics - shell shock from the war, my father euphemistically explained to me. It has been postulated recently that throughout history, the human animal has shown an inclination to seek physical highs in one form or another. The novelist Harry Crews ("The Gospel Singer") once said he believed the cause of mischief in the world is not evil or sin but "boredom, dammit, boredom." I know that the problem of teenage drinking and drug abuse is serious and must be dealt with. But it must be dealt with honestly and with emphasis on the tragic health consequences they cause. Otherwise, teens will ignore any efforts to educate them in the adverse effects of drugs, just as their parents and other adults have. Bill Bauer Silverthorne - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin