(December 19, 2001) — According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, “Teens continue to rank drugs as the single most important problem facing people their age.” They say that just 8% of 12-year-olds know a drug dealer at school and by the time they reach age 17, more than half (56%) do. They also add that more than a third (37%) of older teens (15- to 17-year-olds) have personally seen drugs sold on school grounds, as have 16% of 12- to 14-year-olds. Well, ok…what next? I mean, is it just me or does anyone else think that these organizations should stop spending their money on useless surveys and actually do something to solve the problem? I know that they try, with their infomercials and billboards, but can you imagine how much more they could accomplish if they dipped into their survey money as well? Hundreds of organizations throughout the nation have conducted thousands of surveys concerning teens and drug abuse for as long as anybody can remember, and my question is: How much information could they possibly need? Everyone knows that drug abuse (next to homework and vegetarianism) is one of the biggest problems teenagers face. Isn’t that all we really need to know? What they have to do now is try to find different ways to stop the problem. At least I’m sure that researching it to death won’t be much help. The best way of helping the thousands of teenagers who are poisoning themselves with drugs is to educate them until the information comes out of their ears. I have been drug free all my life, and I have school to thank for that. If antidrug organizations, and yes even the government, gave even a fraction of what they spend on research to create more programs like D.A.R.E. then I’m sure that drug abuse would no longer be a problem.