A drug addiction — and the bad, sometimes criminal behaviors that accompany it — is never merely the result of some personality quirk, character flaw, or some other personal shortcoming.

For many, rather, the addiction and subsequent bad behavior comes from personal pain.

For them, drugs mask the pain, or numb the pain, and, for some, the community of fellow users or their dealers provide friends they at least believe they can’t find anywhere else.

Before the drugs and the crime, a root cause can often be found in a lack of self-worth.

Members of Northeast Michigan’s drug squad, the Huron Undercover Narcotics Team, understand that truth, and have launched a new program to try to stop the drug problem before it begins.

As News staff writer Julie Riddle reported recently, HUNT has launched a social media campaign to help inform young people — young girls, especially — that they are brave, smart, and worthwhile.

That they don’t have to find value in a pill or powder or in the attention of the person who gives them the pill or the powder. They have inherent value in themselves.

First, we second that notion, and encourage every reader to make sure the young people in their life know the worth they have simply because God made them. Make sure they feel loved and that they know they can trust someone in this community.

Secondly, we say kudos to HUNT for their outreach.

It may seem a simple thing, maybe even a silly thing for a group of undercover narcotics detectives to do, posting on social media.

But the investment is small and, for some young people, the return could be huge. If they know their community sees value in them, they might not go looking for it somewhere else.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)