DR. WALLACE: Our high school has started a new club on campus, Students Against Drunk Driving. Its main purpose is to educate students about the dangers of drinking and driving. I have joined this club and have been elected vice president. My main duty is to put out a blurb to the student body about drinking and driving.

Since SADD is a national organization, I will be getting much data and information from its headquarters. But our supply of materials hasn't arrived yet, so I would appreciate any information that would provide a "wake-up" to those students who might drink and then drive. — Gina, Philadelphia, Pa.

GINA: A federal study reported that over 17,000 people were killed last year in alcohol- or drug-related automobile crashes, and a high percentage of them were teens. The report also reported that a staggering 28 percent of the nation's estimated 166 million drivers, regularly or sometimes, consume alcohol or drugs within two hours of driving. The study also found that driving after drug use is more common among male drivers 16 to 20.

Your school should be commended for having SADD on campus. Every high school and college should have a chapter of SADD. Learning about the destruction caused by drinking and driving is of great importance.

PRISONERS HAVE MORE FREEDOM THAN I DO

DR. WALLACE: My parents are outrageously strict. I'm 15 and treated like I'm a young child and watched like a hawk. Prisoners have more freedom than I do. Simply put, I am not permitted to do anything unless I'm with my parents. Their philosophy is that parents can't be too strict in this screwed-up world we live in today. Please tell them that they are overreacting and causing their daughter to despise them. — Nameless, Cumberland, Md.

NAMELESS: Children should not be kept in the sort of protective "prison" you describe. Part of good parenting is knowing when to let go and begin trusting a child with gradually increasing freedom and responsibility. All children eventually grow up. Those who have never been allowed to make their own choices will surely exercise poor judgment when freedom arrives all at once.

You and your parents need to talk. If you're on the brink of despising them, that's a signal they need to review the restrictive rules they've laid down for you.

BREATHING SIDESTREAM SMOKE IS DANGEROUS

DR. WALLACE: You said that sidestream smoke (smoke coming from the tip of a lit cigarette) is more dangerous to a person's health than smoke exhaled by a smoker. I'm writing a paper on the health hazards of smoking and would like to know why sidestream smoke is worse than exhaled smoke. — Hannah, Kansas City, Mo.

HANNAH: The information came from the Canadian Lung Association, which reported that there is twice as much tar and nicotine in sidestream smoke as in exhaled smoke. This is because a percentage of tar and nicotine stays in the body of the smoker after exhaling. I'd enjoy reading a copy of your paper after you receive your A from your teacher.

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. E-mail him at [email protected]. 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.