Stories To Be Heard

Who Is The DRUG Hurting More?

You? Or Someone Close To You?

Everyone in the world has someone close to them who uses this abusive substance. A family member, a close friend, someone who was always there when you were down, someone who inspired you to accomplish your dream/goal, even yourself. The harm, hurt and danger that the drugs and substance has put in anyone's life has resulted to suicide, family separation/divorce and disappearance of family. Powerful stories are being told everyday of how people survived the threat of drugs and substances.

 Rayna Verdine

Before the time I was born, from what I know, my father was a user of drugs. Any drug that was out there, he would do. By the time my parents were married, my father disappeared for a couple of days just to get high. Throughout their marriage my mother suffered hurtful words, physical abuse and what seem like death to her, was coming that point. By the time I was born, he changed. It seem like I was the solution to his problem. Or so I thought? He left my mother and I when I was two years old. By the time I turned thirteen, he returned to California from Arizona but not the nice, kind father/husband, more like a monster freed from his cage.  Throughout his time in California, he continued doing drugs through medication and other unknown substances. He has abused not only my mother again but also me with his threatful words, body gestures, attitude and mostly of all, himself. I don't even know who my father is anymore.

Kaelene Azucena

I've always been remotely close to my uncle on my mother's side. At a very young age I understood that alcohol was not something that blessed the lives of anyone because I saw my uncle completely change under the influence of alcohol. I saw his addiction to alcohol make him someone I barely even knew. Soon enough he got himself into trouble forcing him to have to leave the U.S. until his name was cleared. He returned 3 years ago and I was grateful to have him back into my life, he was my blessing. I was going through a rough time at home and I was sent home for "self harm." My uncle was the only person to be there and tell me it was okay, he promised that he'd change his ways and stay clean as long as I promised stop the self-harm as well. As I kept my promise, he slowly began breaking his.. He became addicted to other substances besides alcohol and eventually no one knew who he was anymore. He recently left, my family has disowned him and yet I can't, I still have faith that my uncle just needs the love and support he never received.

 Auriana Tillett

For me it all started in the sixth grade, with Adderall. I started taking the pill  when I was diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, but soon after the stress caught up to me I started to abuse the pill. I was lying to my mom, telling her "I ran out of pills" or that "I misplaced them", to get my hands on more. Not long after the seventh grade I started going through depression, which was caused by my parents custody battle and also being molested by a close family member. While going through the depression I started to experiment with other drugs such as Marijuana, Xanax and other various pills. I started contemplating whether to run away or not but before making my decisions my mother found the various drugs in my room. She soon began to piece together the clues and figured I had a problem. Soon enough my mother informed me that she would be checking me into the Del Amo Behavioral Health System of Southern California.

Vannesa Razo

We always know someone who deals with drug abuse, whether its you or a person close to you.For me it was my uncle a Alfredo and mom, at the young age of 15 my uncle was introduced to heroin by my great uncle,and as the years went on it slowly progressed to PCP.Even knowing the harm of the drug my uncle still introduced the drug to my curious mother,and after being introduced to the drug she struggled to get clean for 3 years.She probably wouldn't have stopped either if it weren't for the fact that she was 17 and pregnant. Years after she stopped, my uncle Alfredo kept on discovering and trying new drugs,heroin still being his favorite. It wasn't till 1998 that he made the grave mistake of using a dirty needle, 3 months after the mistake he was rushed to the hospital with an tetanus infection that started to deteriorate his skin.No more than 2 months later my uncle died from lockjaw Not only did my mother lose her brother/best friend,but I lost my uncle 3 months before I came into this world.