If I were an advisor to the governor of Missouri, the issue I would encourage him to address is drug production and drug and alcohol use throughout our state. The advice I would give him is to impose more severe sanctions on those who produce drugs and to focus on the prevention and, above all, the rehabilitation of those who abuse alcohol or drugs. According to the Missouri Department of Mental Health, alcohol and drug abuse affects more than 259,000 Missourians and another 800,000 family members of addicts. That's about 20% of Missourians who are affected. Intoxication from drugs and alcohol contributes to a large percentage of deaths statewide from burns, fires, homicides, assaults, drownings, suicides and traffic accidents. I believe that very severe sanctions should be imposed on those who produce illegal drugs. These people have no respect for human life. These manufacturers sell the drugs that pollute and corrupt our society without shame or remorse and should be severely punished. I believe another way to limit drug production is to make it easier to get a college education, thus making honest, profitable careers more attainable. The state of Missouri should lower the cost of tuition at its colleges and universities and increase the amount of state money in the areas of financial aid, grants and scholarships. While this measure will contribute to a loss of state money, I believe it will also save money by keeping would-be drug makers out of prison cells and into classrooms. I believe it is also important to prevent people, especially children and adolescents, from using drugs and alcohol. Many children and adolescents throughout Missouri experiment with drugs every day. Programs already in place for children, such as the "Mo Says No" and "Take Hugs, Not Drugs" campaigns are great, but I believe these programs should continue into middle and high school because most drug use begins here, not in elementary school. For middle school students, schools would have to do voluntary drug testing (with parental consent) every month, and those who test negative might get a pizza party, a dance, or something along those lines. This will reward middle school students for not taking drugs and encourage other students, who may have tried drugs, to do the same. For... half of the document... n will be relatively easy to remedy through rehabilitation. the fourth stage of addiction is called the resignation stage. Characteristics of the resignation stage are moral, ethical and physical deterioration, suicide attempts and prolonged drinking. It is at this stage that addiction can first be medically detected. The fifth and final stage of addiction is the helpless stage. The characteristics of this phase are inappropriate and/or impaired thinking, indefinable fears, paranoia and obsessive use. It is ideal to get help for yourself or a loved one before this stage occurs, but rehabilitation is still effective. Governor, I hope that what has been said above can be put to good use for the state of Missouri. The sooner we have potential drug makers in classrooms and the sooner we have drug addicts and/or alcoholics on the road to rehabilitation, the better off we will be. To the citizens of the state of Missouri, if you see any of the above warning signs in your loved ones, get help for them as soon as possible. Whenever the long arm of the law is extended to Missouri drug addicts, don't forget to also extend a caring hand of rehabilitation.