Editor's Note: The following was written by an inmate of Aurora Pines Youth Camp for female offenders. It was the winning essay in a contest held at the camp and she read it to members of Minden Rotary. Her name is being withheld in deference to her age and predicament.
Drug abuse is life abuse. To me this statement is very true and very serious. Not only do you hurt yourself in the process, but you hurt others along with you. When using drugs, you lose a lot of great things like family, friends, self-worth, respect, nothing is worth losing all of these great things in life.
For me personally, I don't do drugs. The reason why I don't do drugs is because I've seen what it does to one's life. I've seen how one abuses themselves if they don't get their drug of choice. I've seen how one has abandoned their children, just left to grow up wondering about their mother.
I wonder every day how someone can do this to themselves, how they can do this to their own children. I say this because today my nephews suffer from all my sisters drug abuse. My sisters cut themselves, they jumped off roofs, they did everything self-mutilating you could ever imagine. Not only did they hurt themselves, but they hurt their family and friends also. The only reason why I write about my experiences regarding my sisters is because today most of them have turned their lives around and are living with their children and headed down the right path in life.
Drug use is life abuse. This statement is very serious and I wish more people would take it seriously and realize what drugs really do. It shouldn't take a life threatening accident to make someone realize how bad drugs really are. Drugs are just a way of saying "I want to kill myself." They are, to me, the slowest way to kill yourself. Today I still have a grudge against my sisters for doing drugs while pregnant with my niece and nephews. Today they suffer in their lives for the wrong doing of their drug abuse while my sisters are turning their lives around.
It hurts me real bad when I see people my age walking the streets asking people if they want to buy. Hustling is what they are doing. Abusing their life selling while they use. Setting themselves up for an early death, a big record, etc. Drugs are no excuse for suffrage, wrong doing, abuse, low self-esteem. Doing drugs is a wrong doing so, to me, if what I have listed above was one or maybe all the reasons, it just makes it worse. No one is going to have pity or mercy on someone who abuses their life with drugs. Life is a wonderful thing, there is so many places to go, so much to see, I don't and will never do drugs for any reason at all.
No drug is worth losing all that is great-air, sight, taste, love, happiness, family. Nothing, well yes, there is an addiction I have, and that addiction is life. I have made mistakes, yes, but never drugs.
Drugs aren't worth my time. My brain and life are two very important things to me along with my family. I could never give up two very important people in my life. Two younger versions of me. My younger sister who is 12 and my little brother who is 10 years old.
"Drug use is life abuse." Think about it. It's the truth. Once you think you've understood it, got it in your head: Spread the word. Help save all of who use drugs.
