Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 10, 1992 TAG: 9203050055
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: NF-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WENDI GIBSON NEWSFUN WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
If any of these comments has been directed at you, chances are you've been the victim of peer pressure.
Peer pressure is simply the pressure someone your age or close to it puts on you to get you to do something, even if you don't want to do it. It's a friend's - or a stranger's - way of trying to influence your actions.
But peer pressure need not always be bad.
That's what members of the Just Say No Club who meet at Roanoke's Lincoln Terrace Community Center say they believe.
Together, kids ages 7-12 are learning to recognize bad peer pressure and to use good peer pressure to overcome it.
These kids meet every Monday at 3:30 p.m. for a lesson in how to say no to drugs. Average attendance has been around 12 kids since the club was formed in April.
Before every meeting the members recite this pledge: "I pledge to lead a drug free life; I want to be healthy and happy; I will say `no' to alcohol; I will say `no' to tobacco; I will say `no' to illegal drugs; I will help my friends to say `no'; I pledge to stand up for what I know is right."
And what is right is being able to refuse bad peer pressure, to say "I'm cool because I DON'T do drugs" to the ones who say it's cool to use them.
In a recent meeting, members rehearsed a puppet play about saying no to bad peer pressure. Hand puppets the kids made at previous meetings were used to express ideas such as "Bad peer pressure can cause you trouble," and "Sometimes it's hard to say no to bad peer pressure, but we must learn how."
During meetings, club members participate in games and outdoor activities, watch videos or discuss how they've handled peer pressure.
Just Say No Club member Frank Meldrum is 8, but he says he's already had to say "no." He said it was scary.
Member Twanna Banks, 10, says the club has helped her, too. She even entered the club's poster contest last summer and won first place. She drew a man saying, "Be cool. Don't do drugs."
At a recent meeting, the kids were divided into two groups and competed in a true/false quiz that they one day hope to stage for their parents.
While only one team can win in quiz contest, it is the hope of club sponsors, Mental Health Services of the Roanoke Valley and Roanoke's Redevelopment and Housing Authority, that all the members will win in the fight to say no to bad peer pressure.
Come on, they dare you to say "no."
Here are a few of the True/False statements the Just Say No Club tries to answer. See how many you can get right.
\ 1. All drugs are bad.
\ 2. Cocaine is the drug that most drug addicts use first.
\ 3. Chewing tobacco and snuff are safe because nothing is inhaled into the lungs.
\ 4. Children and teen-agers cannot become addicted to drugs.
\ 5. Carbon monoxide, a poison found in the exhaust smoke of cars, is also found in alcohol.
\ 6. More people are addicted to heroin than to any other drug.
\ 7. Smokers are better athletes than non-smokers because tobacco causes the heart to beat faster and the body to work harder.
\ 8. Cigarette smokers sometimes get painful sores called ulcers in their stomachs.
\ 9. Alcohol is a drug, but tobacco is not.
\ 10. People who are addicted to alcohol are called alcoholics.
\ 11. Addiction is when your body needs drugs to keep from being uncomfortable or sick, or when you think you need drugs.
\ 12. It's OK that alcohol damages brain cells because they will heal by themselves.
\ Answers to true/false statements:
\ 1. False; the drugs in medicines are good for us, if we take them as we are supposed to. Any drug can be harmful if used improperly.
\ 2. False; alcohol is.
\ 3. False; both can cause gum disease and cancer of the mouth.
\ 4. False; children and teens can become addicted to any drug an adult can.
\ 5. False; it is found in cigarette smoke.
\ 6. False; more people are addicted to alcohol than to any other drug.
\ 7. False; smokers get tired faster than non-smokers, and their muscles, lungs and brains don't work as well as non-smokers'.
\ 8. True.
\ 9. False; both are drugs, because both cause changes in the body.
\ 10. True.
\ 11. True.
\ 12. False; damaged brain cells will not heal and they cannot be healed by a doctor.
by CNB