Local Video
|
| Neil's story: Death of a friend leaves stark reminder |
By: By SUZANNE ROOK, Senior Reporter
|
Posted: Tuesday, July 8, 2008 9:44 pm
|
 Email  Print
|
(Editor’s Note — Identifying characteristics of the subject of this story have been changed.)
Neil says if he is ever tempted to get back into drugs, he’ll picture a friend, someone who died of an overdose.
The image, he believes, will bring him back to his senses.
“That’s scary as hell,” he said. “It could have been me or anyone else I cared about.”
Neil, now in his 20s, said he has used drugs, mostly pot and painkillers, both while he attended Northfield High School.
The pills, he and his friends believed, couldn’t be harmful because they were medicine, prescription drugs.
It wasn’t until he first felt the effects of withdrawals that he realized what he had gotten himself into. “When you’re on it, you don’t care. No matter what you’re doing you’re still having fun,” he said.
When he was off the drug, he would tell himself he needed to quit — until he was offered some more.
The only way Neil can get clean, he says, is to leave Northfield. When he comes back to visit, the drugs are always there. The dealers, he said, are in his face, enticing him, luring him back. And they’re hard to resist.
Never again, he said.
He has resolved to change, cleaning out his cell phone and erasing the numbers of everyone but his best friends, those he knows will support his sobriety.
“You know you have to quit. You have to be strong and true to your word. No matter what, you can’t give in, because you know if you do you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
— Suzanne Rook can be reached at srook@northfieldnews.com or 645-1113. |
|
|
|
Story Comment Guidelines:
Registered members who identify themselves by name are authorized to automatically post comments to stories. Readers who wish to remain anonymous submit comments to a pending queue, where they will be reviewed for approval within 24 hours of their submission. To determine the author of a comment, click on the user name.
Those who identify themselves will be given broader boundaries to express their opinion. Only those anonymous comments that contribute to the conversation in a thoughtful, respectful, civil manner will be approved. The decision to approve or reject a comment is a subjective one and is ours alone. Authors of rejected comments will receive an email response.
If you would like to report abuse click here to notify us.
|
|
| Show Comments | Hide Comments
|
|
| Login and voice your opinion!
|
|
|
|
|
Top Jobs | Top Homes | Top Cars
09 Jetta
09 white Jetta asking $16,000
less than 48,000 miles
|
|
Digg
Del.icio.us
Facebook
MySpace
StumbleUpon
Google
Yahoo!
