You might sigh as you read the next few paragraphs, and think, ‘Oh yeah, here we go again, the same old stuff about drugs being bad for you.’
So, do you want me to change the truth just because you’re sick of hearing it?
The point of this book is to tell the truth, whether it’s popular or not. There’s a lot of misinformation going around. Sometimes people prefer lies, because they think the truth will interfere with their pleasure.
The truth about drugs is easy. They’re bad. They’re bad for the following reasons:
Most people who use drugs offer these excuses to themselves:
1. Adults set us a bad example by smoking and drinking and taking prescription drugs so they can’t complain if we take drugs (as if the weakness of these adults means it’s OK for you to be weak too).
2. My parents took all kinds of drugs when they were younger, and they’ve survived. (Your parents may be immature in their role as parents. Don’t model yourself on their weak behaviour and their past mistakes.)
3. Reality sucks – I’d rather take drugs (try changing your reality – drugs are a surrender to the reality that you don’t like. You’ve let the reality defeat you).
4. A little bit won’t hurt (all drugs cause damage).
5. It just happens so easily at parties . . . everyone’s using stuff, and before I know it I am too. It happens in a way that doesn’t make it seem like a big deal, even though I was always so sure I’d never get into that. (If you haven’t got the strength of character to say no, invent an excuse for why you can’t take them. Say you have asthma or you’re allergic or you have such bad trips you can’t take them any more. Avoid parties like that in the first place. Go with a friend or partner who you can trust to help you avoid trying drugs. Fake it – pretend to take them. But afterwards, find some new friends.)
Some people take drugs as a way of telling their parents to get stuffed. They’re saying, through the drugs, that they reject the lifestyle and values of their parents.
It would be more effective to tell your parents this than to do yourself terrible damage by telling them so indirectly. You must feel very threatened by them, dominated by them, under their shadow, that you can communicate with them only in this way. You’ve got a lot of work ahead of you to resolve all this.
I’ve known a lot of people who’ve gotten into the drug scene in a big way. They’ve all been people with serious emotional problems – problems of unhappiness, anger, loneliness, feelings of failure, lack of confidence. Mostly they haven’t realised the seriousness of their own problems. They are people who have learnt not to talk about their problems, who maintain a mask which hides their deep and extreme sadness. By refusing to look at those problems, by turning to drugs instead, they’ve condemned themselves to terrible damage, in some cases to death.
In other words, many men are so unable to talk about their problems that they would rather destroy themselves than talk.
Is talking that painful?
True friends would help you talk about your problems and help you resolve them, rather than push drugs onto you.
If you feel the need to take drugs, you have problems in your life that you’re not coping with. Get some help with those problems, as a matter of urgency. Quit running.
Despite this, nearly all the readers of this book will try drugs: at least nicotine, alcohol and dope. You can survive light use of these without serious damage. Addiction to any of them will be a disaster for you. Some people have addictive personalities, which means they become addicted very easily and quickly. If you think this sounds like you, take great care of yourself.
Recognise that the drug stage of your life is an immature stage. The fact that some adults stay in this stage forever doesn’t make it any less immature. Try to move through the drug stage quickly and get up to the next level, where you take on responsibilities and take charge of your own life. It’s more interesting, rewarding and satisfying.