The hit and run that occurred in Massapequa recently can only be termed a tragedy. It was a tragedy for the Greenfader family, who lost one member of their family and saw another seriously wounded but it was also a tragedy for the Wilensky family who saw a member of their family make a tragic mistake.

Possibly one of the most tragic aspects of this accident is that what happened was not just an error in driving, but involved drug use.

Although this time is was Levittown students who used a substance that may have caused a fatal accident, the Massapequa community, not too long ago lost members of the community because students from Massapequa High School made the fatal error of drinking and driving.

Because of these fatal errors in judgment several lives have been lost, both in the physical and emotional senses. Will Michael Wilensky's life ever be the same? Even if he does not have to spend time in jail, he will forever know that his actions cost a woman her life. He is not the first person to have to suffer these same consequences. Sometimes the guilt is a person's self-imposed prison sentence.

Despite these tragedies, will we ever learn? Today's society has become more aware of the problems of drinking and driving. Didn't this county just start a policy of seizing the cars of those arrested for DWIs to try and prevent tragedies such as this one? Alcohol was not the culprit in this instance, marijuana was. This is a substance that does not receive as much attention as it should.

Oftentimes, people who smoke "pot" say that it really has no effect on them, that it just relaxes them. They then proceed to get in a motor vehicle in this "relaxed" state. Was it this relaxation that caused the driver's inattention in this most recent tragedy? We may never know the answer to that question for sure but we can speculate.

Isn't it about time all those people who have fought to get people who drink and drive off the streets also fight to get drug users out from behind the wheel? Even if only one tragedy such as this one is prevented some good will have come of this.

-Susie Trenkle