Many Boomers Expect Their Children To Try Illegal Drugs

Many parents of the baby boom generation who used drugs when they were younger expect that their teenage children will do the same, and they believe there is little they can do to stop it, a survey released last week revealed.

The parents surveyed by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University expressed little confidence in their ability to control their children's decisions about whether to use drugs. Among the study's findings were:

"What is infuriating about the attitudes revealed in this survey is the resignation of so many parents and teens to the present mess," said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., the president of CASA and a former U.S. secretary of health, education, and welfare...