How not to do drugs...

I don't know a thing about drugs firsthand since I have never tried anything illegal and I imagine I never will. People who I love and have loved have been consumed by the stuff and I, unfortunately, know what it is to be affected secondhand by the ugliness and destructiveness of it all. And after all this - to the deepest of my core - I HATE DRUGS. I hate them more than I can hate anything else. This is my best guess as to how to avoid becoming an addict:

1.) Have a strong sense of your own mortality. I often see myself crashing in a fiery ball if I start to drive faster than I should. Maybe if you practice being aware of how you can die or become injured in a sudden and unexpected way, you would be more careful of the life you were given.

2.) Do things that scare you. I really believe there is something about youth that almost instinctively drives us to take risks. I think you absolutely need to satisfy this need. Give a speech, try out for a play, go water skiing, play competitive sports, perform in a band- karaoke, if need by. But do things that get your adrenaline going and make you go "WHEW!" afterwards.

3.) Hang out with people who inspire you to be better. It's all about peer pressure. If your friends do drugs, it will be so easy for you to do drugs. Make a conscious effort to befriend those people who do not do drugs and are unlikely to start. Pursue friends who have their focus on their future, their goals, not just those who are looking to "pass the time" and have fun.

4.) Become informed. Know what drugs do to you. Read stories about people whose lives were ruined. Know the slang terms, the side-effects, know the withdraw symptoms, know the statistics. Obtain this information before someone tries to convince you with the lies they tell to downplay the reality of drugs. Know that they are telling you lies from the beginning, so you can see right through them.

5.) Recognize that junkies are just like everyone else. Drug users are not generally what they appear to be. They are not always thin, or poor, or have bad teeth, or wear sunglasses, wear baggy clothes, or talk in a slur, or use bad language. They are your quiet unassuming neighbor, your overly friendly coworker, your handsome well-dressed cousin. Do not assume that because they can still function in society, that drugs have not already taken away so much of their freedom and happiness. Don't allow them to set an example of how you, too, can still have a normal life as a drug user.

6.) Never begin lying. People who are good liars got there because of practice. Addicts often become great at lying to get money, to hide their drug use, to allow them to live a seemingly normal life. As soon as you being lying about the little things, it becomes easier to lie about the big ones. Just because you are smart and you can read people very well, it does not mean you should spend your efforts on developing this skill to manipulate people. You will always pay the biggest price.

7.) Have something to live for. If actions speak louder than words, then I think that junkies love their drugs more than their parents, more than their spouses, more than their children. Yet this is often the only reason that hard-core junkies give it up. Find something or someone to love. And love them. And make that love the most important thing in your existence. Otherwise, you will find something else to love that will not love you back.

8.) Never let money burn a hole in your pocket. It is so easy for young people with money to spend to spend it on drugs. If I were a parent, I would never allow my child to have unearned spending money. Money can be the biggest curse to the young. Money that is not earned will likely be spent on "junk." It is up to them what kind of junk it will be.

9.) Fill your life. I think it is really dangerous for young people to have too much time on their hands. They have so much energy to burn. School, a part-time job, after-school activities, do it all! You can sleep when you die! Hopefully much later rather than sooner.

10.) Love yourself. I know this is so much easier said than done, but I think all of us need to become the kind of person we can respect and love: Fiercely and desperately love. Drugs are nothing but a long-term form of suicide. You must love yourself enough to live.