MISSOURI WATCH: STATE'S CHJILDREN FACE DRUG RISKS

Regardless of how many times we ignore the problem of illegal drug use by America's young boys and girls, the awful truth reappears as frightening reality in report after report. America has waged "war" on drugs for so long that the sobriety struggle has become almost trite and without meaning. Public officials, whether in Washington or Jefferson City, call for budgets that are so inadequate they barely fund even the half-hearted efforts now being made by most of society.

Whether we choose to face the facts or ignore them, our communities, our states and our nation are engaged in a war to save the lives of millions of young children who are the most vulnerable targets for a long list of drugs that promise to make them feel good, if only for a brief period of time. Every time a young 15-year-old boy or girl decides to experiment with some unknown substance that is offered, he or she makes a choice that can literally destroy the future, imprisoning the youth in a hell much worse than any prison.

We have made such little progress over the past two decades that most bystanders choose to ignore the danger and refuse to consider the consequences. There are so many problems that juvenile substance abuse has to get in line for worry time, but perhaps a few facts will move our dilemma a few steps closer to the front. One of the most disturbing ones in recent days is a report from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency concerning the increased use of drugs by teen-agers. The DEA statistics reveal that teen-age use has doubled since 1992, a brief four years, and while some question these figures, it is undeniable that teen experimentation has increased, even if not at the reported rate. The reality is that 1 in 9 children between the ages of 12 and 17 said they had used drugs in the previous months, a rate that is 111 percent higher than four years ago.

We are obviously not winning America's war on drugs, and a look at the situation in our own state is just as troubling. Jefferson City has been waging a war on drugs almost as long as the federal government, and the latest figures in Missouri are as discouraging as the ones supplied by the DEA.

Missouri has an estimated 750,000-plus children in the so-called target range, from ages 10 through 19, while a population of 1.1 million young citizens from ages 10 through 24. It is the 750,000 boys and girls from 10 through 19 that are the most vulnerable and the ones most likely to suffer the greatest risk of long-term addiction. Applying the rate of 1-to-9 to our state's target group, we now have a group of more than 80,000 teen-agers in Missouri who have used illegal drugs in the past month. This is not only a calamity in terms of destroyed, unrealized futures for thousands of teen-agers, it is also a calamity for the state as a whole, which will feel the effects of substance abuse through increased taxes, higher crime and diminished civic and economic progress.

If there is increased danger of teen-age drug addiction, it is not reflected in the budget of the one agency charged with meeting the challenge, the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse in the Department of Mental Health. Of the three divisions within the department, ADA is the poorest, with the smallest funding and personnel.

Does it shock you that the division charged with both preventing and treating both alcohol and drug abuse has only 148 full-time employees in an agency that has a total payroll of 10,424 workers? In the past two budget years, the increase in ADA payroll has been one employee.

Does it shock you that in the current budget period, the federal government is the major source of ADA funding, contributing $35 . 7 million as compared to only $22 . 9 million from Missouri's general revenue fund?

Does it shock you that the number of our children who are enrolled in prevention programs has dropped over the past two years, from 1 60, 255 to 1 20, 000 at present?

Does it shock you that the number of residential beds contracted by ADA has grown by only 8 in the past two years, from 853 in FY 1995 to 861 at present?

Does it shock you that we are spending five times more to imprison some 20,500 criminals than we are spending for prevention and treatment of all of Missouri's victims of alcohol and drug abuse?

If these facts are not shocking to you, then we have at last found one of the reasons why Missouri is losing the war on drugs.

~Jack Stapleton of Kennett is the editor of the Missouri News and Editorial Service.