Fifteen-year-old Savanna Peterson has lived around drugs her entire life. From parents to siblings to friends, she has watched the devastating effects of drugs, but that's not in the plans for her.
Peterson was introduced to drugs at the age of 5 when her father shot up heroin in a grocery store parking lot and passed out.
"I knew that something was wrong," she said. "I knew that what he was doing was bad."
Her father has served in prison for most of her life for drug-related crimes, and her brother continues to party with drugs and alcohol on a regular basis.
When her grandmother, author Jill Vanderwood, approached her grandchildren about writing a children's book, Savanna came back with a different idea. She wanted to write about her experience with drugs.
Jill and Savanna teamed up and wrote the book "Drugs Make You Unsmarter."
The book includes Peterson's personal story as well as interviews with doctors and other teens and adults who have suffered from substance abuse. Other sections list facts about drugs, their forms and short- and long-term effects.
"Drugs are popular," Peterson said.
She has been a target for ridicule for her rigid commitment to stay away from drugs and alcohol, but it doesn't seem to faze her. The 5-foot blond teen is full of sass and spunk, armed and ready to fire back at the naysayers with pure and simple facts.
"Drugs take away your money," she said. "They take away your mind, and they take over your body."
Peterson feels confident she always wins the argument. Some friends have looked to her as an example and have given up drugs and alcohol.
"I have fun," she said. "I can remember my night and I can remember all the memories I have in my teenage years, and it's just fun to know what you're doing. It's fun to be sober."
Vanderwood and Peterson hope to do speaking engagements with their book to encourage kids to commit to be drug-free, particularly in the fifth and sixth grades where they feel they can have more influence.
"They really respond to (Savanna) because she's a kid," Vanderwood said. "It has to be somebody they can relate to. They don't want to hear from a grandma."
Except perhaps Peterson, who claims her grandmother is her best friend. Her aunt and other family members have been supportive.
"If I wanted to, I could do drugs right now," Peterson said. "But I choose not to. I just chose a different path."
Peterson plans to go to college and hopes to be an archaeologist or a fiction writer. She already has plans for more books, but right now she is passionate about influencing other kids, including her younger sister, to be drug-free. During the month of April, Peterson and the book were featured on the Teen Nick website, which features teens who are "above the influence."
"I'm proof," Peterson said.
Proof that you can keep away from drugs and alcohol no matter your circumstances.
"There are better ways to be cool than following the crowd," she said. "If people really have hope in themselves, they can get off drugs."
Liesl Shurtliff holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in music, dance, and theatre and writes middle-grade and young adult fiction. She blogs at writerropes.blogspot.com