Community Views

Drugs And Alcohol
And Jewish out

ALAN D. GOODMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

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The Jewish com- play as role models for their chil- Over 25 percent have incomes
munity has long dren. The old adage of "Do what more than three times above the
munity
itself upon I say and not what I do" doesn't poverty line.
the fact that there hold sway with today's youth. If
This survey shows that there
are very few Jew- parents are "recreational" drug are approximately 6 million chil-
ish alcoholics, drug users, this will greatly increase dren under 18 years of age (9 per-
abusers and per- the likelihood that their children cent of all such children) whose
petrators of do- will become users as well.
parents have used illicit drugs in
mestic violence.
A recent survey in the Bloom- the past month. Marijuana is the
- Unfortunately, we field Hills schools conducted by illicit drug most often used by
have been deluding ourselves, be- Western Michigan University parents, although other illegal
cause these "facts" are not true. showed alarming results. The use drugs such as cocaine, heroin,
The reality is the incidence of all of alcohol and several illicit drugs hallucinogens and non-medical
three of these social problems in is as high and in some cases high- use of prescription medications
the Jewish community is on par er than the national average. Re- also are reported. Nationwide, an
with the rest of the population.
ported use of marijuana, estimated 12.8 million children
What exacerbates the problem hallucinogens and inhalants is under 18 live with a parent who
for those who are the abusers or more than double the national has used illicit drugs in the past
those who are the victims of the average. For example, two out of year.
abuse is our community's refusal every five seniors are occasional
I believe that we have an oblig-
to accept the realities. It makes heavy users of alcohol, reporting ation as individuals and as mem-
it more difficult for those who having drunk five or more drinks bers of the Jewish community to
need help to turn to the Jewish in a row during the two weeks address this problem. Firstly, we
community to ask for it.
prior to having been questioned. must acknowledge that this is a
The problems of drug and al-
During the 30 days prior to problem in our own Jewish corn-
cohol abuse in the Jewish com- questioning, one of every three munity. Although there has been
munity are especially difficult for seniors had used marijuana; two no study specifically related to
us to address. There have been out of every five smoked ciga- Jewish youth in metro Detroit,
community forums aimed at rettes; and two out of every three there seems to be a consensus
bringing this problem out into the drank alcohol. Interestingly, a among professionals working in
open, but the organized Jewish smaller proportion of seniors per- the field that our children are
community has not been consis-
equally affected by this problem.
tently represented. The Jewish
Denying that the problem ex-
Family Service does not have its
ists will not make it go away. As
own drug and alcohol treatment
parents we must communicate
program although we work close-
with our youth about drug and
ly with other providers through
alcohol use. As painful as it may
referral agreements.
be, we must open our eyes to the
We do provide family therapy
possibility that our own young-
and treatment once an individ-
sters could be using illegal sub-
ual is no longer using the sub-
stances. If this is the case, this
stance. Our board has identified
does not mean that we are bad
this as an important program
parents or that our children are
area for future funding; but at
bad children.
this time, no viable funding
Adolescence is an extremely
mechanism has been found.
volatile and difficult period; and
What concerns me particular-
peer pressure, the need to "fit in,"
ly is the prevalence of drug and ceived the use of these substances and normal curiosity can be pow-
alcohol use among our youth. For as risky behavior than do seniors erful forces, too strong to resist.
Jewish children in middle and nationally.
We are doing our children and
high school, drug and alcohol use
Use of these substances is ourselves a disservice if we refuse
appears to be a common occur- more likely to occur at a party, to look at the problem and help
rence. It has been cited as one of a friend's home, at one's own support our children and equip
the most common sources of home or in a car. School appears them to deal with these pres-
stress for our children in schools to be the least likely location for sures.
today.
illegal drug use. Most drug use
We should see to it that there
- Parents may have no idea that appears to occur when our youth are more drug and alcohol pre-
their children are drug or alcohol are not actively engaged in orga- vention programs in our schools,
users. Many may say that if what nized and planned activities. I ap- with opportunities for our young-
we are talking about is marijua- plaud the Bloomfield Hills school sters to talk about these issues.
na, this is really no big deal. How- administration for commission- We also need to evaluate our own
ever, it has been shown that the ing this study and making the is- behavior related to alcohol and
marijuana in use today is a "gate- sue public.
drugs and determine if we are
way drug" which has the poten-
As we can see, this is not a contributing to the problem.
tial of leading to other, more problem which is confined to low-
What messages are we giving
addictive and potentially harm- income, inner-city youth. There to our children? Are we helping
ful drugs.
is a definite correlation between them make good choices and pro-
The marijuana being made income and drug use. In a recent actively guiding them in a posi-
available to youth in our schools national survey of parental sub- tive direction? The scary part of
is stronger that the "pot" of the stance abuse by the U.S. De- this is that we cannot choose for
'60s and '70s and may be "laced" partment of Health and Human them. This is an issue that they
with crack or other additives, Services, it was shown that while themselves need to feel strongly
malting experimentation or reg- rates of drug use are higher about.
ular use a potentially lethal ex- among poor parents, most sub-
As with many other social
perience.
stance abusing parents and their problems, there are more ques-
Parents may underestimate children are not poor.
tions than answers. Neverthe-
the important role which they
In fact, nearly 70 percent of less, as parents and as a Jewish
Alan Goodman is executive
parents and children who used community, we have the power
director of Jewish Family
drugs in the past month have in- to make a difference. One child
Service.
comes above the poverty line. at a time. ❑

Editor's Notebook

Praying Wasn't Such
A Terrible Thing

PHIL JACOBS EDITOR

Quick. All you
yuppies out
there, turn away
from this column
and recite the
Lord's Prayer. I'll
get you started,
"The Lord is my
shepherd, I shall
not want." OK,

evening's night out. I remember
one boy being carried from the
cafeteria. He passed out.
Now, almost 25 years after
high school, I doubt that if we
polled schools and asked the
children to recite the Lord's
Prayer, they would even know
what we were talking about.
Yet we're primed and ready
to offer up condoms to the stu-
dents at some of our nation's
largest school systems. Our chil-
dren know phrases such as
"Don't Drink and Drive" or "Just
Say No." But, "my cup runneth
over," forget it.
OK, let's go over this. Re-
member, it's Psalm 23:

you finish it.
Mrs. Pindell's third-grade
class, 1961. Eight years old then.
Knew the Lord's Prayer cold. So
did my best friend, Sammy, an
Israeli new to this country. So
did Janet, a gentile from a poor
family who, I remember, wore
dresses that were dirty and torn.
And so did Adrian, the first
The Lord is my shepherd, I
black person I ever met. We shall not want.
used to bring Bibles from home
He makes me lie down in
to school, pull them from our green pastures,
desks and read from them if we
He leads me beside still wa-
didn't know it by heart.
ters. He restores my soul.
Reciting the Lord's Prayer
He leads me in right paths for
didn't dominate our day in the sake of His name.
school. Certainly, most of us
Even when I walk in the val-
used prayer more often when we ley of the shadow of death,
didn't know the answer to a test
I shall fear no evil, for You are
question than for any sort of with me;
spiritual growth.
With rod and staff You corn-
When school prayer left, it fort me.
took a gentle part of the day
You have set a table before me
with it. Not only that, but some- in the presence of my enemies;
thing that drew children from
You have anointed my head
all religions and socioeconomic with oil, my cup overflows.
backgrounds was missing.
Surely goodness and mercy
The times were perhaps more shall follow me all the days of
innocent. We were brought to- my life, and I shall dwell in the
gether by something called house of the Lord for ever.
"school pride." It was important
Remember that prayer.
to yell for the blue and white and
Now, there are those who
the "Mighty Wildcats" during worry that even offering a mo-
the football games. But circle the ment of silence will lead to forced
wagons if you wanted to make prayer, which could lead to a
contact with God.
Christian theology being pres-
In junior high school, the lives sured on those who aren't Chris-
of my elementary-school class- tian. And with the results of the
mates were pretty much to- elections still fresh, not many
gether, though things were who call themselves moderate
starting to change. Sammy's or liberal will argue.
parents divorced. Somebody
But I have to.
painted "Down With Niggers"
As a child, I never remember
in 5-foot letters on an exterior anyone pushing his religion on
wall of our school.
me after saying the Lord's
Three years later, my junior Prayer. My sister, who was a
year of high school, another high-school student while I was
longtime friend, Marty, an- in elementary school, never
nounced in English that our came home with stories of reli-
classmate "Jeannie gave birth gious intimidation.
to a baby boy." Jeannie was the
I t has been many years since
quiet girl who went unnoticed the Lord's Prayer has disap-
most of the time.
peared from public schools.
So that's where Jeannie was. Have they turned into such
My friends can have babies?
wonderful places as a result?
Our cafeteria in 1971 was
There are plenty of excep-
comparable to an inner-city bus tional public school systems. Yet,
station. The white kids stayed there are also places where stu-
together on one side, the blacks dents worry not only about their
on the other.
algebra exam, but about getting
But even then, the cafeteria's shot. Make the basketball team?
brand of desegregation typical- Some teens are more worried
ly happened only when someone that sexual relations either will
wanted to buy drugs. It wasn't get them pregnant or kill them
uncommon to see kids, children with AIDS. But if they don't...
I played "house" with in ele-
And we're worried about the
mentary school, slumped over, Lord's Prayer? 111
sleeping from the previous