A recent survey found that fewer children think their peers who do drugs are cool these days.

Tuesday, November 23, 1999

A recent survey found that fewer children think their peers who do drugs are cool these days. While that news is encouraging, it does not mean that the battle is over.

Even though more children and teens are saying no to drug use, there are still many who are trying – and using – drugs in our schools here and across the nation.

And those who are using drugs are not messing around with some of the lesser drugs either – and they are not staying away as they enter young adulthood.

In addition to drugs like cocaine, crack and heroin, more and more young people in their 20s and 30s are turning to prescription drugs and alcohol to get high – and ruining their lives.

Drug education programs at the elementary school level are not enough to protect our children. Continued education through junior high and high school coupled with strict enforcement of the regulations regarding not only teen drug use, but alcohol, are critical to making sure our children stay off this dangerous path.

Celebrate that more children don’t measure coolness by drug use and be thankful that "just say no" has become such a part of many of today’s children’s vocabulary.

But don’t ever let your guard down or think "that can’t happen to my child" because that is exactly when it will.

Vigilance is the only way to win this war.