Dec. 10, 2008 — The cycle of drug use
Mom, Dad, where were you?
At age nine I smoked my first cigarette. At 12, I was on the weed. Age 13 – 15, a little booze. At 16, I was on the pill Xanax, Oxycontin or whatever came along.
My girlfriends were on the pills also, but they forgot the birth control pills.
Now I have three kids by three different women in three different counties.
Papa, Mama, have fun raising my kids. I won’t raise them; my Mom and Dad won’t raise them. They are just like me, they taught me everything I know.
I am 23 years old. I look 43. My skin is like rubber, my face is wrinkled and my eyes look like two burnt holes in a blanket. In fact, I look like a dying calf in a hailstorm.
I used to have a lot of friends but most of them have died from an overdose, but don’t worry, it can’t happen to me.
Really, I get along pretty good. I take my food stamps; my crazy check and my lazy check and trade them for drugs. This lasts me most of the month.
When they run out, I lie, cheat, steal and sometimes even kill to get my next fix. Maybe you hard-working tax paying people could get another part-time job, pay a few more taxes and help me get one more check. I might be able to make it.
I have one goal in life, to destroy my family, my community and myself. I am winning. Who am I? I am he, I am she. I go from the very lowest rung of the ladder to the very top rung. I leave no stone unturned. I am 200 pounds, but I am controlled by something as small as an aspirin.
The clock has now moved forward. One generation is gone, another is just beginning. I am now eight year old. Just think, in one more year I can have my first cigarette.
Mom, Dad, where are you, I need help. Don’t lead me down the path you chose.
Who am I? I am probably about 40 percent of this county.
Willard Adkins
Morehead
