Felecia and Nicole met outside their high school Friday afternoon to discuss weekend plans.

It was Felecia's 17th birthday and her boyfriend was busy, so she mentioned she wanted to try ecstasy for the first time. Nicole knew where they could find some.

The two girls met with John, who Nicole knew sold drugs, in the high school parking lot. What she didn't know was that John's car was under surveillance by local law enforcement. After a brief conversation, they were joined by Ty, one of the man's distributors, who offered one dose of ecstasy for $22. Felecia only had a $20 bill, so Nicole pitched in with a couple extra bucks.

Who will the police arrest? What are the charges?

The scenario was one of five depicted by actors and actresses for Fed Facts, a new drug education program developed by the United States Probation Office in the Middle District of Florida and the Florida Regional Community Policing Institute at St. Petersburg College. The national award-winning CD-ROM-based program will be offered to high school and middle school teachers and students across the state by the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services System. Principals in Bismarck already have agreed to allow probation officers to implement the program here, and the next step is to try to get permission from school officials on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, Assistant Deputy Chief of U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Marcus Roehrich said.

"It's designed to give the kids information so they know the consequences and have higher awareness of the situations that can get them in trouble," Roehrich said. "It's to get to kids before they get to us."

The presentation that will be projected on film screens in classrooms in the upcoming years begins with "the crime," a depiction of a drug transaction like the before-mentioned scene. It moves onto "the law," which gives general definitions of federal charges that could be applied to characters in the scenario. Then volunteer Florida high school students, "the jury," discuss the scene.

"Viewers don't think that some of the people who get convicted even did anything wrong," Roehrich said, based on a trial run of the program held recently at Bismarck State College.

The next step is "the verdict," which shows who could be charged with a drug-trafficking offense. In the before-mentioned scene: Felecia could be charged with possession of a controlled substance, John with distribution of a controlled substance, employing a person under 18 to distribute a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school and distribution to someone under the age of 21 and Ty with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, distribution of a controlled substance and distribution of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school.

According to Roehrich, the part that students may find surprising is that Nicole could potentially receive the same possession of a controlled substance charge as Felecia because she loaned her friend $2.

The final excerpt, "the judge," includes an appearance by Florida Federal Judge Richard A. Lassara who reviews the crime and the reasons for the charges.

"It doesn't matter your age. If you sell drugs, you face the penalties," he said after the clip.

Roehrich said his office will do their best to present the 45-minute program to as many high schools as possible across the state, but may run into some time restraints due to a recent increase in their caseload. A U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services officer will be present during the program to encourage classroom discussion.

(Reach reporter Mike Albrecht at 250-8261 or cops@ndonline.com.)