Ralston welcomes anti-drug message

School administrators started classes like Ramson's to open new lines of communication on drugs, and students said the class was effective because it was taught by someone who knows the danger first hand.

"He was talking from his own experience and that it's harder to just say no," said Natalie Stottler, 12.

"When he first became a pro football player, they said, 'Congrats, you made it, have one of these,'" she said, indicating a joint.

"It took him a long time to get help, but then he did," she said.

Ramson entered the National Football League in 1978 and played tight end for the 49ers in the 1981 Super Bowl, but his drug addiction persisted. He later spent 10 years incarcerated, he said.

Now sober, Ramson said the class is a departure from the D.A.R.E. drug prevention programs of the past.

"A policeman can only tell you what he's observed," Ramson said. "It's a little bit more practical when you've been there."

Each Wednesday, students met to discuss tactics to use when offered drugs, like looking an enabler in the eye and refusing it. But they also talked about the importance of self-esteem and consequential thinking, an exercise that rolls a film of possible consequences from making bad decisions.

The power of peer pressure on the middle-schoolers showed at the beginning of the class, when students took an informal survey asking who they would talk to about drugs. The seventh- and eigth-graders ranked parents, police and teachers as the people they trusted least, surprising the teachers.

Another goal was to get parents more involved in their children's lives, said Carolyn Hoskins, who works for NFL Alumni and helped with the class.

Though the success of drug-prevention programs are hard to measure, Ramson's insight into peer pressure seemed to have an effect on the students.

One wrote in a letter to Ramson, "You taught us useful and important things and I know that I will use them at least some time in the future."

Ramson said he hoped his students wouldn't bow to peer pressure like he did.

"My mom used to say if you hang out with dirt, you're going to get dirty — it rubs off," he said.

Stephen Baxter can be reached by e-mail at stephen@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 109. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.