While looking into the eyes of my friend, it was hard to tell if I knew who he was anymore. At first, it was just experimenting, thinking it was cool to do with his other friends, but then it became an everyday thing. Popping this and snorting that. It was hard to watch seeing that I was always there when he did it, as was my sister. There was no way for me to stop it; no one would ever listen to me.
It began with simple weed-smoking; not a big deal at this age. But as he grew older, he knew he wanted more. I wouldn’t go out every weekend like they did but when I did, I would get a whole rundown on which drug he took this time and how it made him feel. Soon after, my sister gave in. I would hear her come in at 5 am almost every night. How could I tell my parents about this? Everything would fall apart if they knew, and my sister and I’s relationship would be destroyed. I tried to convince them to stop but for the most part, I would just have to sit and watch if I still wanted to be in my sister’s life.
Fortunately, my sister stopped after a year or so after my parents found out and we were forbidden to see our friend for months. After a while, he came back into our lives, still the same person he was when we left him. Even worse now. He would brag about the drugs he was doing and how much money he was dropping on them. They were cool and fun for him. His friends did them. So why not do them? Seeing him sober and seeing him on drugs was not the same person. It was scary, to see him sometimes not even able to function.
One night, he came over to our house and told us he just got a bag full of Xanax. He gave me half of one and told me to take it with him. I didn’t want to say no so I went to my room to get water and hid the half in one of my drawers. I came back to the room and told him I had taken it. The next morning in school, I get a call from my sister saying that he had been taken to the hospital last night because of an overdose. The drug was laced with fentanyl. I hung up the phone and took a deep breath to process the information I had just heard. I was horrified for my friend’s physical state but also shook up at the fact that that could have been me
Today is no better than years ago. My friend is still an active drug user and I still have to witness it ever since he and my sister started dating. It’s still hard to witness because I know that anything bad can happen. I still don’t recognize him when he does them. I don’t want to intervene with that part of him because I don’t want to get hurt or get in trouble. It’s hard to explain my reasoning about why I don’t do anything about my friend’s addiction.
Now my message to you is to seek help if you or a loved one is suffering from drug addiction. Drug addiction is a very serious issue and millions die every year from overdoses. Don’t be like me and just sit and watch as your friends or loved ones slowly waste their life away using drugs. Get up and do something to save them from this dark place in their mind. Things can get much better for them if they put the effort in to try and get better.