Pubdate: Sat, 29 Oct 2005
Source: Ledger-Enquirer (GA)
Copyright: 2005 Ledger-Enquirer
Contact:  http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/enquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/237
Author: Chuck Williams, staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/red+ribbon+week

SPEAKING OUT

Students From Spencer, Shaw, Smiths Station And Beulah Share Their
Thoughts On Peer Pressure And Addiction

Ramon Williams may only be a 15-year-old Spencer High School
sophomore, but he has already read his obituary.

It was posted at the school. He died in an automobile accident after
drinking his first beer, the obit stated. He hit a tractor-trailer
truck.

Williams, president of Spencer's Students Against Destructive
Decisions chapter, even came to school late the day the obit was posted.

"The first thing someone said was, 'I thought you were dead,' "
Williams said.

The confident teenager is far from dead. But the practice of writing
an obituary before its time is used to teach students the consequences
of doing drugs or under-age drinking.

"It is very effective," Williams said.

All week, students across the Chattahoochee Valley have been studying
about the impact drugs can make on their lives. Red Ribbon Week is a
time when the anti-drug message is taken into the schools. As part of
Red Ribbon Week, the Ledger-Enquirer published a week-long series
about methamphetamine use in Columbus and the region.

Wednesday and Thursday, the newspaper talked with students from four
area high schools about drug use, peer pressure, destructive decisions
and parental involvement. The students from Spencer, Shaw, Smiths
Station and Beulah shared their thoughts and experiences.

Whether they were in rural Lee County, Ala., or next to the main gate
to Fort Benning, many of the students said if parents are involved in
their children's lives, the children are less likely to do drugs.

"Parents make a big difference," said Shaw junior Brittny
Shackelford.

It's about choices

Students say they have a better chance to stay away from drugs if
their parents are involved in their lives. That involvement includes
asking tough questions. Most of the students interviewed said they
welcomed their parents questioning their actions.

Trey Davis, a 17-year-old Smiths Station senior, said his parents have
been talking to him for years about making the right choices when it
comes to drugs and alcohol.

"You don't realize it until you face a decision," Davis said. "But the
decision is already stored in my brain: 'You don't do that.' "

Davis, who plays on the Panther golf team, said when faced with a
decision about "harmful substances" he thinks about his future. His
goal is to become a doctor.

"I always think about what this is going to do to my future," Davis
said. "Will it mess up my life? I am not going to mess up my life."

But the bottom line is the responsibility for making that decision
rests with them, many of the students said.

"You make your own choices," said Chantell Roberts, a 17-year-old
Spencer senior. "Your mother can teach you right from wrong. But she
can't make your decisions for you. If you go to the candy store and
you don't have the money, you know in your heart it is wrong to take
it."

One thing parents can do is lead by example, Roberts
said.

"Don't do anything you wouldn't want your kids to do," Roberts said.
"You can't tell someone not to do wrong and you're doing it yourself."

Peer pressure

Peer pressure is a critical element in someone making a poor decision
regarding drugs.

"There are two kinds of people -- people who are easily influenced and
people who are not," said Mario White, an 18-year-old Spencer senior.
"If someone who is easily influenced hangs out on the street, that
person is more likely to do drugs."

Money is also a factor that leads some people into drugs, White
said.

"Some people are all about the quick money," White said. "Why work for
$5.15 an hour when you can go out and sell and make $100 in five minutes?"

That peer pressure can also come at parties.

Abby Vaughan, a Smiths Station senior who is Miss Phenix City,
remembers her first high school party. She was a freshman and excited
about going. That excitement didn't last long.

She said she saw drinking and other activities of which she didn't
approve.

"I called my sister and said, 'Please, come get me,' " Vaughan said.
"I got made fun of."

But she didn't regret the decision.

Beulah students are no different from other students in the
Chattahoochee Valley. They face the same pressures when it comes to
decisions about drug use.

"It exists," said 18-year-old senior Leslie Rudd.

That pressure is more intense away from the campus at parties, Rudd
said.

"There is the possibility it is going to be there," Rudd said. "I
don't go to these kinds of parties. I don't want to be in that situation."

Some say extra-curricular activities such as sports, band and clubs
help keep them out of trouble. Many of the students the newspaper
interviewed were athletes.

Shaw junior Marisa Gray, who runs cross country and plays soccer, said
athletics is one way to steer clear of trouble.

"I would not want to use something that would hurt me and cause me to
start slacking," Gray said.

Different times

"Times have changed -- and they have changed a lot," said Spencer's
Roberts. "A lot of parents can't see and feel what we are going
through. Not everyone can go talk to their parents. You've got to give
respect to get respect. Buying us shoes and clothes is not being our
friend -- that's just spoiling us."

Different times mean decisions on more lethal and addictive
drugs.

This week, students have read where top drug enforcement agents have
said methamphetamine is the most powerful stimulant on the market.

"Meth is cocaine times 10," said Sherri F. Strange, U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration special-agent-in-charge for Georgia.
"Cocaine is a naturally occurring stimulant; meth is a synthetic that
is 10 times more powerful."

That concerns Anita Chambliss, an 18-year-old Spencer
senior.

"Crack has been around since the '80s," Chambliss said. "We all see
people who get hooked. But if you smoke crack, that is your business.
You're crazy. Why would you smoke meth if it is 10-times worse than
crack? Why would you want an eight-hour high? Why not just go jump off
a building, die and don't worry about it?"

Some students have been impacted by methamphetamine.

Katee Self, a Shaw senior, said she has seen the drug destroy someone
she knows.

"When I first met him, he was a nice guy," Self said. "He went crazy
and couldn't do anything. Nothing seemed to matter. His kids didn't
mean anything to him."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin