DR. WALLACE: I'm 16 and my boyfriend is 22, and we love each other very much. My problem is my dad. He just doesn't understand that we are in love and all we ever think about is being with one another. All my dad wants to do is to keep us apart.

My boyfriend understands how my dad feels and is a good sport about it, but I'm not a very good sport. My father is hurting me very much and I don't know what to do to get him to leave us alone. The two reasons he doesn't want me to see Mark is that Mark has two children by a previous girlfriend who got pregnant just so she could try to keep him. But he left her for me anyway.

Mark also has a police record for cocaine possession, but he was framed. He was only carrying it for a friend. He was stopped for speeding and the "stuff" was found on the floorboard. The judge wouldn't believe him and he served five months in jail and is on probation for another 18 months.

But my dad only knows the bad stuff about Mark. He doesn't see the good side. Mark works six days a week at an auto repair shop and he pays his ex-girlfriend $100 a week to help support his two sons. That's really good of him. A lot of guys would have just split and paid nothing.

Mark has also stopped using hard drugs since he started dating me, and I'm working to get him to quit smoking pot. He does still drink occasionally, but that doesn't bother me at all. A guy really needs a little relaxation and fun once in a while.

What can I do to get my dad to change his mind about Mark? Please answer my letter. This is very important to me. I want to marry him the day I turn 18. — Cindy. Nogales, Ariz.

CINDY: I understand that you and Mark are in love and want to be together as much as possible, but I also understand why your father wants to keep a lot of distance between your boyfriend and you. Your father is not alone in his thinking. The great majority of fathers throughout the world would not want a 16-year-old daughter to be seeing a 22-year-old guy who possesses the undesirable qualities of Mark.

Not only that, but I personally feel that Mark is too old to be dating a 16-year-old girl. My advice would be for you to look for a boy much closer to your own age, one whose past is less intimidating to your parents. The fact that Mark drinks and uses marijuana is enough reason for you not to be seeing him at all!

I'M A HAPPY POT-HEAD

DR. WALLACE: You've said that it's more dangerous to smoke marijuana now than it was 10 years ago. This is just a bunch of propaganda passed on by people like you who hate pot-heads. I'm a happy pot-head and I wouldn't change for all the rice in Asia. — Tim, Santa Fe, N.M.

TIM: You are misinformed on the dangers of using marijuana. According to the National Institute for Drug Abuse, the potency of marijuana has doubled over the past 10 years. Most major marijuana growers are now able to improve their crops as they gain experience and employ improved technology.

This increase in potency produces a greater high, but also causes more damage to the brain, immune system, and reproductive system. Smoking just five marijuana cigarettes per week can deposit the same amount of cancer-causing chemicals in your body as smoking a pack of tobacco cigarettes a day.

Unfortunately, many young people consider smoking marijuana to be a harmless pastime, but this just isn't so!

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. E-mail him at rwallace@thegreatestgift.com. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.