They are used in college campuses across the world. Students take them to cope with the stresses of college or to get away from life altogether. What are they? Drugs.
In today’s society, doing drugs in college has become a commonality. Yet, there are those fair few who have never touched these substances. I would be one of those select few. I am proud to say that I have never done drugs. And here is where people ask, why? To which I reply personal reasons.
It is only then that people crack jokes about how they will “accidentally” slip me something. It’s not humorous, it’s rather horrific and ignorant. Some words of advice: Put the jokes to rest and respect that we may have a story that impacts our decisions. I, for one, have a story as to why I am the way I am. Probably similar to those who also say they do not do drugs for personal reasons.
In my household, my family hates the H word: Heroin. I lost my cousin, Adam, to a heroin overdose in 2015. My cousin struggled with his drug addiction all throughout his life. Unfortunately, he was never a constant in my life. I would see him every couple of years, but his addiction consumed his life. His addiction not only caused him to suffer, but as well as my entire family – we watched his addiction alter him in his entirety. The most prominent alteration, though, was his appearance. Collegiettes, the photo below is an example of the before and after images of heroin use.
Looks scary, right? Just seeing how much power a drug can have over someone’s life is daunting. Addiction doesn’t just affect one person, but their family as well.
Watching how much pain my family endured made me vow that I would never do that. I will not only never touch heroin, but drugs overall. Yes, that includes weed.
I feel like it’s important that I touch on the topic of weed. It’s the most common drug found on college campuses worldwide. Although it is illegal to have in the majority of areas, that doesn’t stop students from having it on campus. In fact, statistics have shown that the number of students who say they have used marijuana in the past 12 months jumped from 30 percent in 2006, to 38 percent in 2015. It’s often a topic of conversation that comes up regularly as well. I have been asked multiple times to smoke weed or have a brownie in my four years of college. Each time, I declined the offer. I decline because weed can be a gateway drug. After weed, your curiosity will strike into you wanting to try another drug and then another. It only takes the abuse of one drug for you to fall down a vortex of doom.
Now, you may be thinking that weed is harmless, nothing bad will happen to you. You actually can get addicted to weed. I’ve seen how it can help people medically who have seizures, glaucoma, etc. However, I mainly see people abusing it. You can get addicted to anything that you become co-dependent on and have withdrawal. Withdrawal can be both physical and mental. I don’t want to test my chances of me getting addicted to weed because I’ve watched it control people’s lives. Some people can’t even go to sleep without it. Mentally, they believe they can only be a functioning human being if they get their daily fix.
If you’re stressed out from college or life, there are other ways to cope that won’t affect you negatively in the long run. Meditation, yoga, exercise, crafting, etc. There are numerous outlets you can have that will benefit you and will cost less.
At the end of the day, you are the one who is responsible for your actions, and your actions alone. Collegiettes, you will be asked multiple times throughout college to try drugs. Educate yourself, make your own informed decisions and take control of your life.
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