Drug and alcohol abuse touches all Americans in one form or another,
but it is our children who are most vulnerable to its influence. As
parents and teachers, we need to educate ourselves about the dangers
of drugs so that we can then teach our children. And we must go
further still by convincing them that drugs are morally wrong.
Now, as more and more individuals and groups are speaking out, young
people are finding it easier to _say no_ to drugs. Encouraged by a
growing public outcry and their own strength of conviction, students
are forming peer support groups in opposition to drug use. It has been
encouraging to see how willingly young people take healthy attitudes
and ideas to heart when they are exposed to an environment that
fosters those values.
Outside the home, the school is the most influential environment for
our children. This means that schools must protect children from the
presence of drugs, and nurture values that help them reject drugs.
_Schools Without Drugs_ provides the kind of practical knowledge
parents, educators, students and communities can use to keep their
schools drug-free. Only if our schools are free from drugs can we
protect our children and insure that they can get on with the
enterprise of learning.
[Illustration: Signature of Nancy Reagan]
_INTRODUCTION_
"_It is a sad and sobering reality that trying drugs is no longer
the exception among high school students. It is the norm._"
--California Attorney General John Van De Kemp _Los Angeles
Times_, April 30, 1986
_When 13- to 18-year-olds were asked to name the biggest problems
facing young people today, drugs led their list. The proportion of
teens with this perception has risen steadily in recent years. No
other issue approaches this level of concern._
_Four out of five teens believe current laws against both the sale
and the use of drugs (including marijuana) are not strict enough._
--The Gallup Youth Surveys, 1985 and 1986
"_Policy is useless without action! Drugs do not have to be
tolerated on our school campuses. Policy to that effect is almost
universally on the books. Drugs remain on campus because
consistent, equitable and committed enforcement is lacking._"
--Bill Rudolph, Principal, Northside High School, Atlanta, Georgia
Testimony submitted to the U.S. Senate Committee on Special
Investigations, July 1984
"... _We have a right to be protected from drugs._"
--Cicely Senior, a seventh-grader, McFarland Junior High,
Washington, D.C.