WARNING: Some of this content is shocking.
Why I made this page:
One of my students did not show up for class for a few
weeks. I asked around to see where he was. He was dead.
He overdosed on extacy and alcohol. He was 18.
This is not the only tragic case I have seen involving the use of drugs. Not all involve death. Many involve wasted lives.
I thought I would show some of the effects of drugs on this page.
Drugs are harmless?
Many HIV positive people became infected by sharing needles or by having unprotected sex due to inhibitions being suppressed by drugs - smoke a joint, make a dumb decision, get AIDs.
I used to be on the staff of a narcotics rehabilitation center. Of the many things I learned there, such as you can not help someone who does not want help, one was that so called "harmless" drugs such as marijuana are actually gateway drugs. Few people go directly to hard drugs from no drug use.
The gateway is subtle and that makes it dangerous.
If you are buying marijuana, you know people who can get you harder drugs.
We are all influenced by the people we interact with - many times on a subliminal level. Small things we see and hear influence our thinking. You hang around with druggies, you learn druggie behavior.
If you are doing drugs you are doing them for kicks or to try to cope with emotional pain. After a while the kick is gone. Since drugs are not a good coping mechanism - your problems are still there and possibly worse after the drugs wear off. To get bigger kicks or to dull the pain more you can move on to harder drugs. You are developing a losing habit and crack and heroin are just around the corner.
A word about emotional pain. I know that emotional pain can be worse than severe physical pain. You have to learn how to get through emotional pain without harming yourself or others. Drugs do not teach you how to do that. They are a way of trying to run away and you never learn the coping skills we all need in life.
Drugs are glamorous?
Hooked: See a picture of a drug addict.
A series of pictures of a drug addict over several years:
Nov 79
Aug 80
Mar
81 
1982
May 86
1988
April 88
June 88 Age
41
Want to read about what drugs can do for you?
True Drug Story
Will Eric have his hands and feet amputated?