Consequences of Trying Drugs: Layla´s Story

He was constantly high on heroin, and when he was not, he was grumpy and abusive towards her. Eventually in times of lonesome, Baby got a hold of drugs on her own. First, she tried magic mushrooms. At first, getting high was a way for Baby to entertain herself. However, she eventually tried her father’s drug of choice, heroin. She quickly becomes addicted to the feeling she gets when high off this drug. Heroin entwines itself into Baby’s day-to-day life and begins to impair her normal decision making, “There wasn’t much, but there was enough to make all my anger dissipate. As soon as I was high, I couldn’t even remember what my escape plan had been (569).”Her quick addiction allows Baby to find an escape from her reality. Turning to drugs to fill the void her parents left within her childhood is not only temporary, but it is dangerous. People close to Baby demonstrate first-hand the dangers that this coping mechanism can pose. Her pimp, Alphonse, even died of an overdose with her in the room, “As soon as I looked at Alphonse’s face, I knew that he was dead, even though I had never seen a dead body before (604).” Baby’s method of coping from her father’s negligence is to turn to the exact thing that she witness ruin him, heroin. However, as a child of her age, she would not know any better. Her father is happier and more affectionate towards her while he is high, so it would only make sense to her to think that she would be the

Lauren’s mother succumbed to the troubles of the world and was addicted to drugs while she was pregnant. Her mother’s addiction caused the severity of Lauren’s

For her, everyday acts seem much more enjoyable when on drugs. She goes out of their way to experience something new and exciting. She is a creative writer and uses drugs as a way to get back to her child-like imaginative state. Suddenly, with the drugs back in her life, she seems to have much more insight and a wilder imagination. "And the afternoon was absinthe yellow and almond, burnt orange and chrysanthemum. And in the abstract sky, a litany of kites"(93). She longs to feel this way all of the time, but she knows the consequences. She sees doing drugs like going to a carnival. It is an escape from the boring life she is leading now. Even though she has a daughter, she still feels like there is something she is missing out on. The idea of motherhood takes backseat to her lust for drugs.

If cocaine were legal, what would the little packages be called? Sweet N' High! Unfortunately, this is an example of what is commonly known as a “crack joke.” Drugs are increasingly being misused and abused. Yet, today’s youth in its ignorance takes drugs as a light matter. It is a different story altogether from someone who has actually used drugs. In Beautiful Boy, journalist David Sheff recounts his own and his son, Nic’s journey of drug abuse. Sheff’s memoir is a haunting experience filled with tears, brawls, and ample amounts of crystal meth. In Beautiful Boy, Sheff, while applying a casual and conversational style, effectively uses rhetoric to share his experience with an addicted teen.

With the mounting stress imposed by the conditions at work, “Jackie began to divert narcotics. Jackie was able to justify her actions because she perceived the drugs reduced her anxiety and stress, which enabled her to better care for her patients” (Badzek, et al., 1998). Initially, Jackie’s diversion of controlled drugs went unnoticed. But, ultimately her luck ran out, and Jackie’s actions were discovered.

According to DrugAbuse.gov, long-term studies of drug use patterns show that most high school students who use other illegal drugs have tried marijuana first. Teens are often peer pressured into doing drugs; they get to comfortable with them they inevitably reframe to harder and more potent drugs. In Cole Meyer’s short story, “Addiction” the narrator is a struggling teen addict and his addiction continues to worsen as he ages. Meyer uses setting, character and conflict to illustrate the devastating effects of addiction on the individual.

After picking up Michael from Parchman, Leonie and her kids are on their way back to home. Leonie swallows the entire bag of meth in her car before police officers pull them over and give them a background check. It is also because she is extremely high at that moment, she cannot do anything to stop the officer from pointing a gun at her son, Jojo. She mentions, “And when he (Jojo) starts reaching in his pocket and the officer draws his gun on him, points it at his face... I should scream, but I can’t” (163). This scene demonstrates the dilemma that Leonie faces-- she loves her children, but her dippy addiction on drug overrides her parental instinct. When Leonie chooses drug use over her children, she is damaging her relationship with her kids and traumatizing them. Later, her daughter Kayla tries to wrap Jojo in front of the officers to protect him. The mutual protection of her children further proves her deficiency as a mother. Due to her destructive addiction to drugs, her kids can never trust or rely on her, which also forces her kids to act maturely and independently at their early

In the article, “As They Say, Drugs Kill,” by Laura Rowley tells us that the easiest way to end a party is by having someone die in the middle of the occasion. Len Bias just a typical 22 year old guy celebrating with his friends at a private house party. At every college party there’s always a drug, today’s drug was psilocybin. However, this was a normal party people would play games, tell jokes, and listened to music on the stereo. As Bias fell down one of the guests started to laugh thinking that Bias was just having fun.

During this time of grief, Della feels overwhelmed knowing her mom is not the person she used to be and now is like an “ancient little girl”, which causes her to engage in self-destructive behavior (114). She mentions that she was in “two car accidents” and “was arrested twice” during her senior year. However she said those incidents were not “her fault.” Along with her reckless driving, she says she, “couldn’t keep [her] hands on the wheel” (113). This act of carelessly driving reveals that in a way, she does not care much about herself in those accidents since she does not own up to her actions and simply states that she “couldn’t” hold on to the steering wheel and talks about the accidents and arrest so casually despite the fact that her life was at risk. Della also portrays how people harm themselves when trying to cope with problems by using drugs. On nights when, “the pain wasn’t so bad,” she would go downstairs and “smoke a joint” (115-116). Drugs such as marijuana work as stimulant and a depressant, which means they can enhance mood and put someone is a state of relaxation. For that reason, many people, including Della, use it to cope with their pain. After caring for her mother, “six terrifying hours every night,” she uses the drug to help her escape her problems (115).

In Claire’s Sterk’s book, “Fast Lives: women who used crack cocaine”, she uses information from observation, conversations, interviews and group discussions to explain how using crack affects active users. She also shows how they started using, how they survived, how they developed and maintained relationships with friends and family, and how they were mothers and drug users at the same time. In addition, Sterk started Project FAST, the Female Atlanta Study to identify the impact of drug use patterns on lives of active female users. In this study, most of the women’s stories are similar but yet different in many ways to each other. While curiosity and peer pressure caused these women to experiment with drugs, others were

21 year old Nic Sheff with an extended history of drug use has finally been sober for a little over a year but that soon changes. In and out of rehab centers and 12 step programs Nic began experimenting with drugs at quite a young age beginning with alcohol at age 11 closely followed by Marijuana at age 12. As Nic becomes older the drugs become more lethal from heroin to crystal meth. One day in the city of San Francisco Nic runs into an old friend, Lauren. Lauren and Nic soon follow that meet with a drug dealer named Gack and pick up a gram of crystal meth. What follows is a chaotic swirl of events.

From there, she continues down the dark path of substance abuse as she constantly tries to break away from this downfall. After reading the synopsis, some may deem this as

She had two baby showers which made her and her unborn baby very loved already. Things with her boyfriend, Henry, were not getting any better and he suddenly began to act rude towards her but she just let it happen. On the day of her baby shower her boyfriend’s family held, he would constantly try to argue with her and make hurtful statements such as, “Why should I help? Yajaira can do everything on her own. People need to stop babying her, she’s about to be the mom” and other comments she hates remembering. She knew that wasn’t him but it was the drugs he consumed that made him act like that but it was still no excuse for him to act like that towards

Once this girl started with the drugs, she could not stop. As soon as she tried the first drug, it lead to all of the other drugs and things that she did. Her first time doing the drug was an accident, and she did not know, but she made the wrong choice in continuing to do them. She said it gave her a feeling of belonging and love that she had never felt before. If her parents or her close friends had paid more attention to her, then some of the events that happened would not have happened. Her heavy drug use lead to her runaway from home to the streets, involvement in crime, her prostitution, and her visit to the insane asylum. She found a "best friend" (Chris) - one that would give her drugs - and they decided to runaway and leave their family and friends to start their own shop in San Francisco. They thought they could not handle their parents telling them what is right and what is wrong, but that is what they needed to hear. They were naive in thinking they could live their lives alone without any rules or any authority.

Alice’s parents know about her drug addiction and how she’s dating a college student when she is in high school but her parents still trust her and know she will do fine they do not like that she’s a drug addict but they feel there’s nothing they can do but trust