On Thursday the Natchez Police Department and Mothers Against Drunk Driving took their message directly to students by using a rather unusual method – the goggles got the students virtually drug.

OK, it’s not exactly what you might think.

About 30 students from the Central Alternative School wobbled to and fro as they wore &uot;fatal vision&uot; goggles during a seminar to show the children the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

The goggles give students a realistic view of what it’s like to be drunk or high on drugs by altering the students’ vision.

By purposely impairing the students’ vision without impairing their judgment, officials hope to show them how much control one actually loses when impaired by drugs or alcohol. And, hopefully, the knowledge they learned may help them think twice before drinking alcohol or doing drugs.

The police hope to acquire more pairs of goggles and continue their prevention work in all of our schools.

We applaud their efforts to prevent a problem that can easily kill our children.

As the police work to educate our students at school, each and every parent must sit down with his or her children and talk about the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

Whatever their age, the children aren’t too young to start learning about how dangerous drugs and alcohol are.

In recent weeks, the Natchez Police found a drunken teenager passed out at the wheel of his still running automobile.

The problem can no longer be taken as simply harmless teenage behavior.

Parents need to be responsible for the behavior of their children, set a proper example and talk their children.