I have personally experienced the effects of drug and alcohol abuse. I am currently eighteen years old, a senior in high school, and planning on going to college next fall. I may not be your typical “drug abuser”. I believe that I would be using hard drugs and a high school dropout right now if I didn’t get the help I needed. I am now one year sober of marijuana and alcohol because of treatment. I attended a rehabilitation center in Portland, Oregon for 47 days then was transferred to a residential treatment center in Layton, Utah and graduated the program. Graduating a residential treatment center is not an easy feat to accomplish. Through help of professionals, unconditional love and support from my parents I found something that was hidden deep down in me- sobriety.

My drug abuse started when I was fifteen years old. I smoked my first bowl of marijuana out of a homemade foil pipe with my friend Haeley. I not only loved the after-effects of marijuana, I loved the feeling of the strong, potent smoke entering my lungs. After only a few times smoking marijuana, I was hooked. I started smoking every weekend in my basement when my friends came over. I only went to one party and was grounded for two months. This party was only the start of my problems. Throughout the year, I started sneaking out of my house to smoke marijuana with sketchy boys in their cars. I started spending my allowance on dub sacs and ripped off bottles of Papp’s Blue Ribbon. When I dropped out of high school my sophomore year, my parents knew something was wrong; it wasn’t until later that year when they acted on that intuition. Fast forward to the summer before junior year. I was getting stoned everyday multiple times a day. On top of that, I had just received my driver’s license, and drove while under the influence. Through my dazed eyes I could tell junior year was fast approaching. In September, I enrolled as a junior at another high school. My summer of marijuana use didn’t stop there. I started hanging out at the “corner” where all the potheads gathered between or during classes and smoked marijuana. It wasn’t long after I started hanging out with these people that I stopped going to class entirely. After many failed attempts at going to school and countless failed attempts at quitting marijuana, I decided I needed help.

I asked my parents to send me to rehab and trusted them from there. Rehab was the worst thing that I’ve ever experienced. I had cravings that felt like a million punches in the stomach. I hated all the people there and had no friends. I wanted to get out of there, and after 47 days of loathing; I did. I was sent to a residential treatment center picked by my parents and stayed there for nine months. I gained so much out of this treatment center such as lifelong friends, insight about cravings and triggers, and a better relationship with my parents.

I am extremely proud to say that I am one year sober and ready to graduate high school in May. I never thought I would get to this point, ever. Achieving sobriety is one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life. My first year sober has not been easy and I anticipate my next years will be equally as challenging. I consider myself an alcoholic and a marijuana addict. I am fearless to say this because I know that drug and alcohol abuse is part of my life, but they do not define me. I have firsthand experience of the negative effects of drug abuse, and I have learned a lot from it. I will never use marijuana again.