THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 19, 1995 TAG: 9507190004
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
I have been amazed to see a number of articles written about concern for our children's rights with regard to drug testing for student athletes.
If we do not teach children that drugs are wrong and that there are consequences for taking drugs illegally, I wonder when they will learn?
Adolescents are very impressionable and are forming the fibers that will carry them into adulthood. They need to understand that the decisions that they make today will affect how they make decisions in the future. Those decisions, like whether or not to drink underage, have sex, take illegal drugs, join gangs, etc., have implications that reach far beyond high-school graduation. We've all heard the stories told by the no-longer children who drove drunk and killed someone, lost a friend to a drug overdose or a drive-by shooting, became a parent before they were finished being children themselves, or experienced the inside of a jail cell because they thought shoplifting was ``cool.''
Test away! Give my children one more piece of ammo that helps them deal with peer pressure, one more reason not to do drugs, one more chance to have a better future.
I wish all children could have this drug testing to fall back on as one more reason not to take drugs.
I wish they did not have to grow up in a world where drugs and guns and AIDS and poverty and crime were a reality, but that is not reality. Let's give them a chance not only to survive, but also to prosper. Show them now, and show them young, that it is not OK to take drugs, not even once.
SHELLEY O'MALLEY
Chesapeake, July 5, 1995 by CNB