DRUG-FREE SUBCULTURE ENDURES

'Straight-Edge' Concept, Around Since The '80s, Appeals Primarily To Angry
Young White Males.

MIAMI --They don't drink, smoke, use drugs or have casual sex.

They espouse purity, yet tattoo themselves with X's.

Their music, an offshoot of punk, is raw, fast and angry. But the lyrics
advocate life without vices.

Some are vegetarians or vegans; some have been prosecuted for violence.

These self-described "straight-edgers" are a subculture of 15- to 24-
year-olds whose trademark X's are turning up on more T-shirts, backpacks
and tattoos in schools. They are mostly white, mostly male and from upper-
and middle-class families strained by divorce.

"I've had family who died from the effects of drugs," said Nicholas Smith,
18, a senior at Coral Springs High School in Coral Springs, Fla. "I've had
a hard enough time in life, I don't need to screw it up with drugs, alcohol
or tobacco."

Smith became a straight-edger after attending a hard-core concert when he
was 12. He didn't have a father figure around and was looking for something
to hold onto, he said.

Now, he's in a hard-core band called On Our Own that plays in clubs around
South Florida.

South Miami touts its own straight-edge band -- Destro -- which plays
hard-core concerts at Club Q in Davie, Fla.

"Straight edge is a way of life, not just a label for a group of kids,"
said Arie Mendez, a clerk at Uncle Sam's Music in South Beach. "They're not
just down here; I have friends in New York who are straight edge. It's
international."

Name Comes From Song

The straight-edge movement started with a song in the early 1980s. Ian
MacKaye and his band, Minor Threat, sang Straight Edge, an obituary for a
friend who died of a heroin overdose. The lyrics heralded the benefits of
shedding booze, cigarettes and drugs.

"The straight-edge subculture is a new age of American individualism. It's
almost aesthetic, about depriving themselves of hedonistic pleasure.
They're almost monastic in their thinking," said Theresa Martinez, an
associate sociology professor at Utah State University who has been
following the movement for six years.

An estimated 6,500 teen-agers in the United States adhere to the
philosophy, Martinez said.

The movement is popular in Utah, where police have tagged straight- edgers
gangs. They were on a list of people to watch during the Olympics in Salt
Lake City, along with groups involved in domestic terrorism, Martinez said.

"I think we will see it continue to grow because of Sept. 11, from the
impact of the harsh reality this young generation has witnessed," Martinez
said.

Little Peer Acceptance

Smith said they are a minority at Coral Springs High.

"I wear shirts that say, 'Drugs are for losers,' and I get some (crap) from
some of the kids. But if someone confronts me, I'm not going to back down,
I'll fight them," he said.

Mike Murphey, 17, of Coral Springs, said he endures taunts about his
abstinence, with other teen-agers teasing him with drugs and cigarettes.
But he doesn't let peer pressure change his drug-free lifestyle.

"I started going to hard-core shows about eight years ago, and started
seeing a lot of my friends drinking and smoking, and I knew I didn't want
to do it," said Joe Riveira, 24, of West Palm Beach, Fla. "I just decided I
wanted to be pure."

Riveira's body is covered with tattoos. One on his abdomen reads "DRUG
FREE." A samurai with a large X covers one hand. Japanese characters inked
onto his arm translate to "poison free."

Police who see him leaving nightclubs ask him if he has drugs on him,
Riveira said.

In South Florida, straight-edgers communicate through the Internet and
gather for slam-dancing at concerts featuring hard-core bands like Earth
Crisis, Shock Wave, Culture, Morning Again and Disciple.

"They love the violence of the dancing, the moshing," Martinez said. "The
whole idea of being young males, warriors."

The movement is a response to the materialism of the age, neglect, lack of
contact with parents, lack of family structure and values, Martinez said.
It is about young people looking for roots. It is a product of disillusionment.

"But this generation also produced Columbine," Martinez cautioned. "It is a
generation looking for family, for home."

A Few Are Violent

Some view straight-edgers' intense dedication as intolerance of people who
don't share their thoughts, which can spill into violence.

In 1999 in Salt Lake City, Andrew Moench, then 19, was convicted of
murdering a 15-year-old who disagreed with the straight-edge philosophy.

Several months before the beating and stabbing death of Bernardo Repreza,
Moench told a 20/20 reporter, "You disrespect someone about being a
straight-edger, about being whatever . . . They die, that's what they deserve."

Lesser incidents also have been reported, but many straight-edgers denounce
violence.

"We are not violent, and we don't instigate anything," Smith said. "But we
have our beliefs and are not afraid to stand up for them."