Often, I hear people on the news talking about the crisis of teen drug and alcohol use. I hear how we as a community, parents and schools must address and take care of this dilemma.

I cannot help but wonder, when hearing this, what is the issue? When it comes to teens and sex, we are told the idea of abstinence is foolish. We all know that abstinence doesn’t work, right? Kids will do what they want. All we can do is help make sex safer.

So, I propose we no longer address stopping drug and alcohol use, but concentrate on making their use safer. We can teach students better ways to mix drinks, to decrease chances of causing hangovers. Maybe we could also open up schools as after-hours “safe zones,” where students can be supervised while they party.

This way, we know they will not get in too much trouble, and the schools can ensure they don’t drive under the influence or commit other real crimes.

With time, effort and, of course, a large amount of tax dollars, we could produce a drug and alcohol prevention program as effective as our “safe sex” programs, which are so successful that – according to the Centers for Disease Control – there are still 9.5 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases per year among 15- to 24-year-olds.

Imagine what numbers our efforts to control drugs and alcohol are creating.

Frank Phillips, Auburn