DR. WALLACE: I'm not a teenager, but I still read your column regularly and wish I had read it when I was a teenager. It could have kept me from really messing up my life. But maybe now I can help teens to learn from my mistakes and prevent them from messing up their lives. I know from experience that it's easy for teens to do the wrong thing simply because their friends are doing it. I've learned that they should think for themselves and not to just "follow the pack."

I started hanging around with a group of older guys when I was just 15 because they were "cool." I started drinking beer and smoking pot and then when I turned 16 I graduated to cocaine, PCP, and heroin because that's what they started to do. The next thing I did was to quit high school because I wanted more time to hang out with my "friends" and do what they did.

But things kept getting worse. I was busted on my 17th birthday because I was with my buddies and we robbed a liquor store so we could buy more drugs. After that when I was 19, I was busted for robbing several gas stations in the Chicago area. And that's why I'm now in prison. When a gas-station worker wouldn't give me the money I shot him in the arm.

I've given my life a lot of thought while in prison and I've been concentrating on my future and how I am going to live the rest of my life. I have accepted the fact that drugs have landed me in prison. And now that I have learned the hard way, I'm certain that, with the grace of God, I will never use drugs again!

I hope you will print my letter because I want to help young people understand that living a drug-free life is the only way to live. I have come to my senses and promised myself that I will be an honorable citizen when I'm released from jail. — Nameless, Joliet, Ill.

NAMELESS: Thanks for caring about other young people. When someone is open and honest about his mistakes, those who listen may be spared having to learn the same lesson the hard way. A concern for others is the true key to your recovery.

MAKE SURE YOUR PARENTS READ THIS COLUMN

DR. WALLACE: I totally disagree with you when you told a boy to ditch his friends who smoke, drink, and do drugs. My friends also smoke, drink, and do drugs and I've been friends with them for a long time. I also happen to not smoke, drink, or do drugs.

I was taught not to judge people by what you see but rather what's inside. I hate what my friends are doing, but I'm not about to desert them. My parents are aware of my friends' habits and they don't mind my hanging around them because they don't want to choose my friends. — Nameless, Hammond, Ind.

NAMELESS: I agree that parents should not choose friends for their teens, but they should stop them from hanging around with teens they disapprove of. I would not allow my teen to hang with friends who do drugs and drink. The odds are high that they will start doing the same.

Remember, I was the principal at a southern California high school with a student body of over 3,000, so I had plenty of opportunities to observe teenagers. If I learned anything, it was that birds of a feather do, indeed, flock together.

Make sure your mother and father have the opportunity to read your e-mail and my response.

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.