Pubdate: Thu, 23 Oct 2003
Source: Sun Herald (MS)
Copyright: 2003, The Sun Herald
Contact:  http://www.sunherald.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/432
Author: JEAN PRESCOTT

TEENAGER'S ADVICE: 'PICK YOUR FRIENDS CAREFULLY'

Thirteen-year-old Evan Beasley is Mississippi born and bred, but this year, 
he transferred to the Houston public school system, where he's in eighth 
grade. He echoes the drug-avoidance strategies expressed thus far by older 
teens we've talked with: "Be strong and speak up for yourself, and you 
shouldn't have a lot of problems," he wrote via e-mail.

Beasley says he believes his strong point is that "I am pretty 
independent," and he says he's willing to try new things, but not if they 
are too risky, "And if I just don't want to, then, hey, I don't have to.

"The point is that you need to have an open mind about some things, and you 
have to know when to have the tightest mind in the world and not let other 
people influence your opinion."

School- and family-related activities take up a lot of his waking hours, 
but he says he sometimes makes time for a movie or going to the park with 
friends.

But he adds that you have to keep heads-up for "things that might be weird, 
anything that's making you feel unsafe." If your instincts tell you it's 
time to split, "Go ahead and bolt," he writes. "Make up some dumb excuse 
and go home. When all is said and done, it depends on who you hang out 
with. Pick your friends carefully."

This young man's major distractions are ice hockey and football, and as he 
points out, you can't do drugs and excel in sports, but he isn't 
embarrassed to admit that he has avoided drugs ("there were plenty of times 
I could have done them") for fear of being caught breaking the law.

"(Do) any kind of drug, whether it's crack or ecstacy, and you're done like 
dinner," he writes. "So you stay away from them out of respect for yourself 
and for the people and things that you love."

He confirms that kids at his school know who to go to if they want drugs, 
but that the student dealers don't pressure classmates to buy and use.

"The (kids) who are dealing or covering up for the people who do those 
things know that they will get caught. You have 100-some-odd days of school 
and that's 100-plus days for someone to rat you out.

"If you just can hang with the right people, then you will not get bothered 
by dealers, doers and whatever else is going on in the big wide world of 
junior high."
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MAP posted-by: Perry Stripling