SPEND TIME WITH YOUR KIDS

Thank you for bringing our holiday joy back to bleak reality. Your
front-page article City labs will test your kids for drugs (Free
Press, Dec. 26) more than did the job.

You want to know if your kids do drugs? Here's an idea: try spending
some time with them. Participate in their lives, join them in their
extra-curricular activities, or volunteer with them at any one of
dozens of city charities and teach them the real joy that comes from
helping those less fortunate.

The thought of parents sharing so little contact, trust and love with
their child that they would actually submit them to drug testing is
just plain horrifying.

I have just one question: Is there a lab where kids can take their
parents to have them tested for love?

STEVE OETTING

Winnipeg