Is the increasing drug problem in urban and rural schools unstoppable?

The European Commission has published a report on growing drug usage in Poland. Ecstasy, LSD, Marijuana, and other soft drugs are easily available in many high schools and their usage is continuously growing. This is a sad fact, common not just for larger cities but also true for most towns and villages. In comparison with Western countries, where the number of drug users is stable, most EU candidate countries are noting growing numbers of drug addicts. Over the past five the number of Polish high school students buying ecstasy rose from a fraction of a percent to 3%, the number of amphetamine users grew from 2% to 7% and LSD from 1% to 5%. Poland has become not only a transit country for drug smuggling, but has become a producer and a serious customer, warns the report. Equally alarming is the rise in heroin consumption. In 1996 only two people registered in Warsaw for treatment, but over succeeding years this number systematically grew to 1,488. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A5) A.K.