CANALSTREET9.NE.112101

CANALSTREET9.NE.112101.SDL -- J.R. Davis, 13, watches activity in front of his house on Canal Street as a group of teenagers smoke marijuana and play a low-stakes dice gambling game. Teenagers and young men hanging out in small groups are a common sight on the street where drug dealers come from other parts of town to deal on Canal, one of Durham's most infamous drug streets. Although J.R. and his younger brothers have been approached to join gangs, they say the dealers on the street will generally leave them alone when they say they aren't interested. J.R. has been beaten up in efforts to force him to join the Bloods gang which has a presence at Chewning Middle School, where he is in the sixth grade.