Stop Suffering ISSUE021 | Page 6

DRUGS TURN I grew up seeing my dad come home drunk and arguing with everyone in the house, because of this, I would rather hang out in the streets instead of being at home. The whole situation made me very angry. Ever since I was a small child, I can remember my family constantly arguing. Despite knowing the devastating effects of consuming alcohol, I had my first drink at the age of 12. As I grew up I became more rebellious. I felt happy while I was outside on the streets, but I would start wondering about how the situation at home might be. I knew that there would eventually be arguing. Though I witnessed firsthand the chaos that drinking caused my family, I decided to start drinking anyway. STOP SUFFERING|06 Because I wanted a stronger high, I went from drinking to drugs. I started using marijuana, but when marijuana stopped providing the desired effect, I started using cocaine. From there, I dove into the world of crime. The child, who used to watch his parents arguing, now became the reason for the arguments. And the hatred continued to grow. Things got to the point where I wanted to kill my own father! I aimed a gun at him, but wasn’t able to pull the trigger. I moved up in the criminal world very quickly, as a teenager I oversaw the drug trafficking in my entire neighborhood.