Re: Old Topic...Re-Discovered - The Punchline

["Sue Hovey" <suehovey@moscow.com>]

Sorry Gary, my response was really to Phil.  I didn't see your post.  I
agree that alcohol and drug use consititue a major threat to the lives of
young people.  I believe it was a 20/20 news cast last week which pointed
out students continued binge drinking even immediately after it caused the
death of a young college student whom many of them knew.  While there are
many in Moscow who abhor what "illegal drugs" can do to youth, many of those
same folks will allow underage drinking in their own homes, even providing
alcohol to teen agers who are not their own children. When parents say, "I
give it to them in my home so I know they aren't out driving," may be an
acceptable excuse for your own kids--I don't think so, though; but it is
totally unacceptable to use as an excuse with someone else's teen agers.
Parents have even called the high school wanting to find out which teachers
were going to chaperone the senior kegger.  Socially it is a rite of passage
which has tacit approval even though our own kids risk death every time it
is held.  And lest anyone wonder--teachers do not, repeat do not, chaperone
it.

I don't think billboards, posters, and most drug programs are very effective
because kids don't see themselves as possible victims.  It's always someone
else.

Anyway, I apologize for poking fun, even in ignorance, at a very serious
subject.  And I think we need to continue to press the point that the  drugs
teen agers use, but which are illegal for them because of their age, alcohol
and tobacco in particular, cause more long term harm than the other drugs
which, of course, should also concern all of us as well.


Sue.
-----Original Message-----
From: G M <herecomestheflood@yahoo.com>
To: vision2020@moscow.com <vision2020@moscow.com>
Date: Friday, January 22, 1999 2:43 PM
Subject: Re: Old Topic...Re-Discovered - The Punchline


>With the new "Enough is Enough" billboards starting to pop up in
>Moscow and recent front page headlines in the Daily News I consider
>this to certainly be a topic of local concern and appropriate for
>discussion on V. 2020.
>
>I believe the two posts below, responses to what I considered a
>serious post on my part, frame this issue in perhaps the most
>appropriate, albeit tragic, manner.
>
>Ms. Hovey and Mr. Cooper are able to, as much of society is, find
>humor when it comes to beer/alcohol use/abuse.  Yet any mention of the
>use/abuse of illicit substances results in reaction ranging from
>horror to calls for increased law enforcement, more prisons and less
>privacy, despite statistical data that overwhelmingly indicate legal
>substances pose the biggest threat.
>
>Is it any wonder that young people coming of age in this strange and
>absurd environment are binge drinking more and dying more often as a
>result of that binging?
>
>I've never been accused of lacking a sense of humor.  But when I think
>about the carnage resulting from both the "War on Illegal Drugs" and
>the absence of truth and information when addressing our national
>addiction to legal drugs such as alcohol...I just don't get the
>punchline.
>
>Greg Meyer
>
>---Sue Hovey <suehovey@moscow.com> wrote:
>>
>> Only if its a budhound or anschnauzer bush.
>>
>> Sue
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Philip Cooper <PhilCooper@webtv.net>
>> To: G M <herecomestheflood@yahoo.com>
>> Cc: vision2020@moscow.com <vision2020@moscow.com>
>> Date: Thursday, January 21, 1999 5:02 AM
>> Subject: Re: Old Topic...Re-Discovered
>>
>>
>> Not quite sure........hey, I've got my dog trained to open the frig
>and
>> bring me a beer.  Does that qualify as a start?
>>
>> PC
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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