drugsandalcohol

During a commercial break, a public service announcement flashed across the TV screen: "Twenty questions to determine if you are an alcoholic." A minute later I rushed out to the porch where my dad was sitting with a can of beer. "Daddy! You're an alcoholic! You do seven out of the twenty things, and you only need three to pass!" I was twelve years old. My father looked at me and said, "Do we live in a nice house?" We did. "Do I go to work every day?" He did. "Am I a lawyer?" He was. That was that. Alcoholics live in cardboard boxes and beg for a living. The TV must be wrong. Every night at 5pm, Dad would come home, tense from his day at work.

We all know that smoking is bad for us (Duh!). I mean the label on any cigarette package practically says "Smoking this product will kill you". But the question is not "Is smoking dangerous?" but "Is smoking cool?" OK, so you agree that killing yourself is very uncool, but some of us still think that it LOOKS cool to smoke.Now, in my other articles (YOU HAVE READ MY OTHER ARTICLES?) we figured that looking cool is different than being cool. Well, since BEING cool is what we're after here, I'm now gonna tell you why you can't smoke and be cool at the same time.

Nicotine is the stimulant found in all tobacco products such as: cigarettes, pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, and cigars. Cigarettes contain at least 43 distinct cancer-causing chemicals. Smoking is directly responsible for 87 percent of lung cancer cases and causes most cases of emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking is also a major factor in coronary heart disease and stroke; and has been linked to a variety of other conditions and disorders, including slowed healing of wounds, infertility, and peptic ulcer disease.

I just quit smoking. I remember the day I started so clearly, though it was 18 years ago (aaagh!). Kay Turner, the coolest girl at Youth Club was making friends with me, I felt so honored, and when she offered me that first cigarette (Consulate, Menthol - yuk!) - there was no way I was going to turn her down. So that's my sad reason for starting a life long habit - to look cool. I remember how I must have looked, getting through packets of them when I never really needed to. How I have wished over recent years (especially since my mother died from cancer) that I had never got hooked, like some lucky people.

During a commercial break, a public service announcement flashed across the TV screen: "Twenty questions to determine if you are an alcoholic." A minute later I rushed out to the porch where my dad was sitting with a can of beer. "Daddy! You're an alcoholic! You do seven out of the twenty things, and you only need three to pass!" I was twelve years old. My father looked at me and said, "Do we live in a nice house?" We did. "Do I go to work every day?" He did. "Am I a lawyer?" He was. That was that. Alcoholics live in cardboard boxes and beg for a living. The TV must be wrong. Every night at 5pm, Dad would come home, tense from his day at work.

Q: A few days ago, I caught my dad doing drugs. He said that if I told my mother he would divorce her. I can't help but worry it will slip out... I cant sleep ever !! A: You are so brave to be asking about this, and I understand how this could make you really stressed out. This is a big burden to be carrying around! And you shouldn't have to. Your father's behavior is typical of drug users - - blaming, hiding and denying. It might be hard for you to start dealing with this because to do so you will have to be thinking of your dad in terms of being a user - both of substances and of people - and that is a painful and uncomfortable realization about your own dad.

Last week, I ran into one of my teenage nieces at a trance party. I was just there out of curiosity -- really. "You are the coolest aunt, " she told me. She has a point. I've lived on a commune, hitchhiked across Europe, marched in demonstrations, have an open mind and love to experience new things. It was that love of new things that led me to my first experience with pot, back in the '60's. I was 18 and in my first year of college. My friend, Bill, and I went to his apartment to pick up the rest of our crowd, and a bunch of people were sitting around the table smoking a joint.

I guess I'm really writing this so maybe other people will read my story and not make the same mistakes. I have. I am a 16 year old sophomore and until about a year ago I was very smart and had a lot of friends. One day I was a normal teen with a normal family and the next my world was being torn apart. My family started having a lot of problems I feared my parents getting a divorce and I was living with a suicidal sister. I started spending less and less time at home and more time with the people that I called my friends. They all were into drugs and the stealing and violence that goes with them.

You've seen them - glassy eyes in sunken eye sockets, pale skin hanging off their bones. If you haven't already guessed, I'm talking about junkies. They messed up at some point in their lives by "experimenting" and got addicted. Now they want you to try some, too. See how it helped us? See how much better we are now? Come one, one hit won't hurt. One smoke won't get you hooked. One little dose won't kill you.

Mike and Jim are on their way into the liquor store. Their plans for the night include drinking...and drinking. "Mike, come on, man! I'm not doing this by myself." "Chill, I'm coming." I can't stand this part of it. Buying the booze with our fake ID. I don't know why the other guys can't get themselves some fake ID. Jim and I use ours all the time. We could get into some serious trouble if we got caught. "Four six-packs of Budweiser please and that whiskey over there.