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Should I Spend Two Years Dateless?
DR. WALLACE: I'm 17, and the guy that I love is 19 and is in the military service. I love him with all of my heart and soul, and he says that he feels the same way about me. We constantly talk about getting married when he gets discharged in three …Read more.
The High Cost of Prom Dresses
TEENS: It's prom time, and millions of teens are preparing to attend the grandest of all school-sponsored events. As a senior at Emerson High School in Gary, Ind., the only money I needed to have a wonderful experience was about $75. I already owned …Read more.
You Could Be Behind Bars
DR. WALLACE: I'm 18 and so is Lori, my so-called girlfriend. We had been going steady for a year, but we broke up two days before we graduated. Our first nine months were super, but we had lots of problems the last three. The last straw was when she …Read more.
Congratulations on Your Grade-Point Average
DR. WALLACE: I will be graduating from high school in less than a month. I'm a very good student and have been accepted at Yale University. I will be attending Yale in September.
But I feel very disappointed that I was not selected as the …Read more.
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Stay Drug- and Alcohol-FreeTEENS: The teen years are a time to venture out into the world, to test your independence and make decisions without the help of your parents. Yes, it's a time to experiment, and experiments involve trial and error — making honest mistakes. But some experiments are not worth it, especially those involving alcohol and drugs. It's not enough to be told, "Just say no." Teens feel indestructible and rarely think of the long-range danger of becoming addicted to a chemical substance. But getting high can exact a stiff price. Of the 1.7 million men and women currently behind bars in the United States, 80 percent of them are there at least partly because of drugs or alcohol. That's a staggering statistic. A study by Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse found that almost 1.4 million offenders in state and federal prisons and local jails had violated drug or alcohol laws. They either stole property to purchase drugs or alcohol, were high on drugs when they committed a crime or had a history of abuse and addiction. For many of the inmates, all three were the case. Furthermore, many hundreds of thousands of these inmates would be law-abiding, working, tax-paying citizens and responsible parents if they had lived sober lives. Substance abuse was the sole factor behind their criminal conviction. The leading substance-abuse crime in the United States is drunk driving, accounting for over 1.4 million arrests yearly, at a cost to the legal system of $5.2 billion.
Teens, I know that some of you will experiment with alcohol and drugs with the philosophy that, "I'm going to try it just to see what it's like. I don't plan to get hooked." Just remember that many of those now behind bars had the same philosophy. Be wise. Stay drug- and alcohol-free! Someday you'll be glad that you did. IF YOU CAN'T HAVE FUN — FAKE IT! DR. WALLACE: My buddies and I rate girls one to 10 on their looks. A girl who is a six asked me to the prom, and I said yes because she has a nine body. Now my buddies are making fun of me because they think, for a guy, that I'm a nine. I told this girl I would be her prom escort, but now I don't want to go with her. What's a good way to get out of this predicament honorably? —Nameless, Atlanta, Ga. NAMELESS: The only nine on you is the size of your inflated head. Go to the dance, treat your date with respect and have a good time. But if your ego hinders you from having fun — fake it! Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at rwallace@galesburg.net. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2013 CREATORS.COM 
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