Parents
This article by Joseph Califano is a “must read” for every parent who is sending kids to school today. He contends that sending kids into some of our schools today is a form of child abuse and is a direct link to adult drug addiction.
Any child who has to contend with going to school with drugs and gangs is a definitely a victim of neglect at the very least. Every PTA across the country should discuss this article at the next PTA meeting, before going over band uniform budgets or anything else.
Cheerleading, sports, band and academic performance are not done well by kids on pot, heroin or prescription drugs.
If things don’t better, a wing of every school will need to be devoted to drug treatment.
Parents of tweens and teens: CASA’s 15th Annual Back-to-School Survey indicates that the odds are increasing that the middle or high school your children are going to is drug infected (a place where drugs are used, kept or sold), especially if it is a public school.
Are you going to do something about it or just accept it as an inevitable experience your child has to go through because “that’s just the way things are today”?
If you heard that your child’s classroom and school building were infected with asbestos, wouldn’t you demand that the school authorities certify that the asbestos was cleaned out before you sent you child to school for five or more hours each day?
Joseph A. Califano Jr.
Chairman, National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA)
