The Lesson Their son was born They raised him well He never lied They could always tell He made new friends This year at school They broke the rules He thought they were cool They talked him into Things that were bad He threw away All the sense that he had From his parents He started to drift It was drugs That caused this rift Where is their son? Where did he go? It turned him into someone They didn't know They reached out to him But it was too late Taking too many pills Had become his fate On that horrible night They rushed to his side A few minutes later Their son had died His body couldn't Put up a fight He died from something That just wasn't right The heartbreak in his father's eyes Alone in her son's room, his mother cries Were they both so very wrong To hope their son would be so strong? He'll never get another chance He'll never go to his first dance Never again will they see him smile He'll never give them their first grandchild Let this be a lesson to all With friends and family you'll never fall Drugs can ruin a healthy mind And hurt the others left behind Emilee Oransky Simi Valley

Editor's note: Emilee, a seventh-grader at Valley View Middle School, won first place with this poem about the effect of drug use in a Red Ribbon Week poetry contest in Mrs. Erickson's homeroom.