Dear Editor: 

I was reading an article on how some would say about 70% of our student body at George Mason have used, or use drugs on a regular basis. I would have to say that I agree, our school is mostly made up of different groups, but someone from all of those different groups have most likely experimented with drugs. I am not saying every single student has, there are plenty of good students that haven't, but that doesn't mean that they haven't been offered. If a kid in our school wanted to get drugs or alcohol it would not be very hard, they just have to know the right people. 

The article I was reading was mentioning how maybe one of the reason kids in one of the top, more challenging schools, such as ours are trying drugs is because we have such stressful workloads. Thinking that by the weekend everyone wants to have a break and just have fun so they turn to drugs or alcohol to try and achieve this. It has plenty of consequences, however. 

I noticed that the article didn't mention how another reason why kids try drugs or do drugs on a regular basis is to fit in. They feel that if they do drugs they can fit in better with a certain group or feel accepted. If you aren't accepted unless you do drugs or have tried them you shouldn't be hanging out with them in the first place. One common theme for trying drugs, is for some people when they are on a drug, they create a different version of themselves, whether it be loud, or smart or funny, it's a different persona created by the drug. They then feel that if they are not on a drug then they cannot be that other person and that is what other people like. They would try to always be that person to make others happy. 

I think that the school can't do much to stop this, it really has to with the person's life, and at home. It is mainly the parents' responsibility to prevent their child from venturing into the world of drugs. It is true that the school can punish the trouble makers, that they believe give out drugs or just do drugs, but it won't stop the others from getting them from someone else, whether it be an older brother or sister or friend. 

Eva Berthold, Freshman 

Dear Lasso Readers,

The School Board has been working on a new policy and new regulations on Substance Abuse (Policy and Regulation 9.36, titled Substance Abuse: Prevention and Sanctions). It is different in many ways from the previous policy. Some of the differences are the following:

At its meeting on March 25, 2003, the School Board unanimously voted to approve "first reading" of the policy. The "second reading" is scheduled for Tuesday, April 8. If the second reading is approved, it will become the new policy. Now is the time to comment. The School Board would appreciate hearing from you. Please come speak at our meeting on April 8^th (7:30 pm in the Chambers at City Hall), send us a letter (School Board, FCCPS, 803 W. Broad Street, Suite 300, Falls Church, VA 22046), or send us an email (c/o mitchellb@fccps.k12.va.us).

Sincerely,
The Falls Church City School Board
c/o Kathy Chandler 

I attended Mason last year and I know what people are talking about when they say "drug problem." The one thing I can't understand, though, is what the word "problem" is doing here. When I heard of places with drug problems, it usually involved fights, gangs, murders, overdoses, junkies, and so on. How many of those exist in Mason? None. People party a lot, but look at the consequences of that: They either get punished by they parents or stuck in the police station for holding a beer. There is no real "drug problem," just an illusion thought up by parents who have nothing and no one else to blame. 

Eddleman said it right: "If your kids can't be honest about what they're doing and where they're going on a Friday night, then you have a far greater problem in your household than substance abuse." You want to solve the problem? Talk to your sons and daughters, not to the school or the police. Talk with your kids, joke around with them, tell them how you used to party back in the day. Don't scare them, you're supposed to be their best friend, they should be able to tell you anything. My mother always told me that she would always be on my side and I could tell her everything. And I did. My mother always knew where I was and what I was doing because there was no reason for me to hide it. She never set rules for me because I learned what they were through her love and respect. 

Now I know that a lot of parents will never admit it, but you're the reason your kid drinks or does drugs. When you catch him or her drinking with friends in the garage, instead of yelling, try asking if they want any chips or if anyone needs a ride home. You're going to start to notice that your kid will become more responsible about drinking. He or she will start to gather with friends to "have a few beers," not to "get wasted." 

To parents, I ask you this: Was there a problem when you were our age? No. You know why? Because everyone was more lenient. If you returned the drinking age to 18, I guarantee that drug usage would drop. Were your parents ever so strict with you? And if they were, did you think, "This is exactly what I'm gonna do to my kids so they would hate me just as much as I hated my parents?" 

Quit blaming it on drugs and alcohol or the school; it's your fault and no Parent Network is going to solve that. The only network that will help would be the one between you and your kids. 

Sasha Eric, Mason Alumni

One topic, which I noticed was only discussed briefly, are the vast number of personal experiences which have devastated drug users emotionally and physically. In the "Student Interviews Reveal Motivations," article, risky situations were mentioned, but testimonies and the consequences of drug use in typical situations were not discussed in depth. I would have preferred compromising positions such as 'sexual encounters' and 'inability to control oneself' to be discussed further because of the impact they tend to have on students who are put in compromising situations so often. Instances of 'compromising situations' gone wrong are just horrendous in number, and personal accounts of consequences such as pregnancy and other horrors make a huge impact on whether students may choose to try a drug or not, especially if they knew that something happened to a person at school, a person whom they might see every day. I believe that Lasso Online could be an effective proponent to drug prevention, and personally, I don't think that it's digging deeply enough into the matter. 

Seriously expose some things that will impact students; don't just give them facts, because knowledge isn't power.  I'm sure that the majority of people in school abusing drugs, or getting pregnant (or getting someone else pregnant for that matter) because they were under the influence of drugs could write an extensive essay on the effects of drugs on a person's body and mind. It's too bad that people won't do the intelligent thing with their body, even when they know exactly what the intelligent, or at least not life threatening, action is to take. 

Your critic, 
Lili Miller, Sophomore

I don't think that a Parent Network is necessary. I think that parents should already be law abiding. If their child is going to a party at someone's house who they are not familiar with and the parent is suspicious of anything, they should get out the school directory and call the other child's parents. It's outrageous to think that parents need to sign up for a Parent Network. If the parent is concerned about their child, it should not matter if the parent whose house the party is taking place at has his or her name written on a list of people willing to talk about substance abuse. If the parent is not willing to talk about the party, the answer is right there. Setting up a Parent Network is not the answer. I know from personal experience that kids will get alcohol and drugs, and they aren't going to tell their parents that they're going to a "party." They'll just say they're going over to someone's house. Most parents contact their child via cell phone, and there is no way to know where their child is. 

Parents are not going to find the answer in a network. If teens are engaging in these activities, the issue is with the child's upbringing and peer pressure, and a Parent Network will not solve that. 

Ali Rudel, Freshman

How have we become so laughably naïve? As much as I enjoy living in Falls Church, I have always thought that we are fairly ignorant about what the real world is like. Falls Church is a city of two square miles and a measly 9,500 citizens. This is not a big city with a big city's drug problem. Yet somehow the administrators of our school system and the parents of this city's children have worked themselves up into believing there is one. Please. Take a drive out to some of the local schools where I went just long enough to see students doing lines in the bathroom. Go take a look at those schools and then come back and tell me that there's a drug problem in GMHS. 

If there is a horrible “drug problem” in Falls Church, how does George Mason manage to graduate a higher percentage of its students than any public school in Virginia? How can it send a higher percentage of its students to higher education than any other public school in Virginia? 

But that's not quite enough. Certain parents of this town (you know, the ones with the over-starched collars) feel it's necessary to act on their illusions and Gestapo-like attitude. A Parent Network? Let me ask you, Betty Elliott, Was there a Parent Network when you were in high school? The obvious answer is no. Sure, you tell me drug use wasn't such a problem back then, and that kids didn't drink as much. Give me a break. First, we didn't have our precious PRIDE survey back then, and besides, that's certainly not what I'm told by some of the more honest parents, who inform me that maybe there are a few drugs now that weren't around then, but that it was still going on. And I'm supposed to believe that people didn't drink as much then? I have a friend who lived around Falls Church about thirty years ago, and he tells me back then the party was in the Lum’s parking lot every weekend, complete with kegs and pot. 

However, let's ignore for a few minutes the lack of a drug problem and consider the issue at hand, a Parent Network. Setting up a gossip network in Falls Church, of all places, is outrageous. The amount of gossip and absolute slander that goes on in this town already, among parents and teens alike, must be a national benchmark. Why promote a shady activity in a city where the problem already runs rampant? In my not-so-humble opinion, gossip is a far greater problem in this town than substance abuse ever has been or ever will be. Forgetting the gossip, have the parents of this town really become so dumbfounded and overwhelmed that they cannot raise their own children? If your kids can't be honest about what they're doing and where they're going on a Friday night, then you have a far greater problem in your household than substance abuse. 

The real problem here is that we are so sheltered in this country, in this town, that we can't find anything better to worry about. Kids in Africa don't have drug problems; they have food problems. In Falls Church we have no such problem. We are filthy rich. We recently spent around $1 million on a new communications system for the police, when the last time a real crime occurred in Falls Church was years ago when a body was found on Cherry Hill. The best that Falls Church's finest could come up with in relation to that crime was that (of course) the person was not killed in Falls Church but that the killers were just passing by and got rid of the evidence in Falls Church. So in their free time between murders the 20+ police officers spend their time upholding the law and cracking down on teens cruising the mean streets of Falls Church. 

I don't think that very many parents can honestly say that drugs are a big problem in Falls Church. Furthermore, I don't think that many parents can honestly say this sort of thing wasn't going on when they were younger, and we already know that the situation is no worse here than in other schools. So I challenge somebody to justify this Parent Network, just for my peace of mind. 

Matt Eddleman, Senior 
 

Right, let's get down to brass tax. Living in Amsterdam, I am surrounded by many drugs. However, you might be surprised to know that when attending GM, there existed far more drug use than at my school here. Call me nuts, but when endless quantities of marijuana are readily available to any-aged consumer, the number of high school dope fiends diminishes. Maybe American legislation has it all wrong? Just a thought. 

Thanks, 
Owen Gray, Senior

We both agree with Sara Kaplow about the Parent Network because you do not need a paper telling a parent what they need to do when they should know this already. There are kids that will always do things behind their parents' backs because of the lack of communication in their family. As a parent, it's your responsibility to know what your child is doing and talk to him or her. There are different reasons why teenagers decide to do drugs; if there was more communication between parents and children, they would have a better understanding of one another. As parents, they always want the best and try their hardest, but we think it is stupid how someone wants a Parent Network which already exists with the amount of gossip in Falls Church. 

Diana Amaya and Janna Dichoso, Seniors 

We agree with what Sara Kaplow has to say about the Parent Network. It isn't the whole community's responsibility to take care of teenagers who they may not even know. Parents should learn to trust their kids. This network will only bring more problems and fights with the parents and teens, which nobody wants. This type of network may bring parents to think wrongly of their innocent kids, just because everyone makes such a big deal about other teens. We're not saying that drug and alcohol abuse is not a big deal, but why cause more problems among people? Just leave everything as it is. 

Bonani Duma and Maria Lara, Seniors

As a student at Mason I have indeed noticed the drug problem in our school. Many of the points made in this edition are well made and are valid. I question, though, if these solutions or whatever you want to call them have a place in our school. The Parent Network in my opinion will do little good for the teens of our fine school. This network, while intended for good, will in my view be a breeding ground for mistrust among parents and their teens. 

I think that there is a problem with substance abuse in George Mason. Part of that problem is because of how small our school is. I don't think, however, that the solution is going to be easy. It will take many years to figure out how to fix it. I just hope it is solved by the time I have kids, because I would love for them to experience life at George Mason. 

Teddy Smith, Junior

I would like to commend all of you on your most recent (today's) Special Edition. You are right in asserting that a school newspaper must take on controversial topics like substance abuse to ensure that they are properly and fully addressed. Your issue on academic misconduct was the catalyst for positive change a year ago and I suspect the issue you have put before us on our computer screens today will invite the full discussion that needs to take place if positive and lasting change is to happen. 

I thank you for taking on a difficult subject and for doing so in such a journalistically thorough fashion. The balance you've provided, the thoughtful pieces from your writers and the eye-catching graphics all come together to form yet another edition of Lasso that's sure to be read by many. Let's hope that the thought and discussion your issue generates will make GM and the Falls Church community an even better place. Keep up the excellent work! 

Sincerely, 
RW Snee 
Principal