Pubdate: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN) Copyright: 2008 The StarPhoenix Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400 DRUG CAMPAIGN OVERDUE The following editorial is from the Vancouver Province. Last week's report that a new national program designed to prevent young people from using drugs has received $10 million in federal funding certainly is good news. The only question is, what took the feds so long? After all, it is not as if the perils of illegal drug use among young people aren't evident, especially in B.C. And it's not as if our so-called experts are unaware of the effectiveness of media campaigns in combatting tobacco smoking and drinking and driving. That is why you'd have thought Ottawa would have taken the same hard-nosed approach towards illegal drug use. But as Health Minister Tony Clement noted, there hasn't been a "serious or significant" anti-drug campaign in almost 20 years. And that's a crying shame. Taking drugs is decidedly uncool -- and it's high time our young people were warned about it by our government with every means at its disposal. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart