Pubdate: Thu, 15 Dec 2011
Source: Summit Daily News (CO)
Copyright: 2011 Summit Daily News
Contact: http://apps.summitdaily.com/forms/letter/index.php
Website: http://www.summitdaily.com/home.php
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/587
Author: Alex Miller
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n709/a01.html

USE, ABUSE AND MIXED MESSAGES

In last Friday's Daily, regular columnist Jeff McAbee hit a few 
nerves when he took up the touchy topic of high school drug and 
alcohol use. Jeff, who also happens to be a campus supervisor at 
Summit High, remarked on his experience of finding a couple of empty 
beer cans in the boys' restroom, as well as the fact that a former 
student was recently arrested after allegedly selling pot in the high 
school. In what I thought was a well-written and thoughtful essay on 
use and abuse, Jeff made a point to note that not all SHS students 
are up to no good, and remarked on some of the hypocrisy that 
accompanies our messages as parents to our children.

Was Jeff wrong to touch this topic? It was interesting to see some 
student responses in letters to the editor. One student, the editor 
of the school newspaper, blasted Jeff for daring suggest SHS students 
are anything but angels, while another decried what he sees as 
wide-spread abuse in school and suggested draconian measures for stemming it.

As a former SHS student myself who's also had three children pass 
through those halls, I printed Jeff's column with no misgivings. 
While use and abuse of drugs, alcohol and tobacco are a factor in any 
high school, it's always been more of a problem up here, where a 
party and vacation mentality reign and even the signs welcoming folks 
to Summit proclaim us to be a "playground" (something I protested 
vehemently, to no effect, back in the 1990s when the signs went up). 
Meanwhile, as we sternly warn kids never to touch any of this stuff 
until the day they turn 21 (when, magically, they will be able to 
handle it with adult-like aplomb), we as a society barrage ourselves 
with an endless stream of ads promoting the very products we 
proscribe for our kids. As the Summit Prevention Alliance folks and 
others are now taking pains to point out, this extends to insidious 
efforts by the tobacco industry to create and market new products 
targeted at children. And let's not forget Big Alcohol, forever 
creating more high-powered quaffs no doubt aimed, in part, at kids. 
Whipped-cream-flavored vodka, anyone?

In the face of all that, our institutional message to kids is akin to 
the abstinence approach to sex: Don't ever do it (until magical age 
or status is reached), period. Human nature being what it is and kids 
being kids, the best way to pique interest in something is to issue a 
blanket condemnation like this. Parents operating on a more realistic 
playing field can and should do more: We can talk frankly about sex 
and procure birth control when the time comes. We can also share with 
our older children what we know about alcohol and drugs. Assuming 
we're not angels, either, most of us can relate with real-world 
anecdotes the difference between, say, drinking a beer and downing a 
brimming cup of Everclear punch. Not all things in the category 
"drugs" are the same, and there is a difference between smoking a 
joint and mainlining heroin. And here are 47 excellent reasons to 
never, ever try meth or cocaine.

As parents, we spend a lot of time trying to prepare our kids for 
life, but we often fall down on these uncomfortable topics that can 
have the gravest of consequences. Shying away from sex education and 
getting all squeamish about birth control results in a lot of teen 
pregnancies, while sending mixed messages about drugs and alcohol 
(one in the same, really: the distinction and split legality is part 
of the problem) almost assures negative results when our kids start 
confronting these substances outside the home.

So to the young Tiger Tracks editor who called Jeff's column "smut" 
and "a disgrace," I would say this: If you'd like to continue in 
journalism, embrace those who have the courage in print to speak 
uncomfortable truths. Debate the issue, for sure, but don't vilify 
the writer. For the other student who suggested having "drug dogs" 
sniffing around at the school daily, consider the slippery slope of 
such an action, particularly as it relates to your rights as an 
American under the Constitution.

And finally, county commissioners, can we make at least one small 
gesture and take down those stupid "Colorado's Playground" signs?
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom