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The best way to convey the truth about drugs is through the words of those who have "been there." By telling their stories, they can pass on what they have learned so others avoid going down the same path.

Share this information with your friends. Drug education saves lives.

"My goal in life wasn't living...it was getting high. I was falling in a downward spiral towards a point of no return. Over the years, I turned to cocaine, marijuana and alcohol under a false belief it would allow me to escape my problems. It just made things worse. I had everything, a good job, money, a loving family, yet I felt so empty inside. As if I had nothing. Over twenty years of using, I kept saying to myself, I'm going to stop permanently after using this last time. It never happened. There were even moments I had thought of giving up on life." - John
"It started with the weed, then the pills (Ecstasy) and acid, making cocktails of all sorts of drugs, even overdosing to make the rushes last longer. I took copious amounts of these chemicals every day for as long as two years until I had a bad trip one night and went into toxic psychosis. I prayed and cried for this feeling to go away, I had voices in my head, had the shakes and couldn't leave home for six months. I became very withdrawn and thought everyone was watching me. I couldn't walk in public places. Man! I couldn't even drive. "I ended up homeless and on the streets, living and sleeping in a cardboard box, begging and struggling to find ways to get my next meal.
"I asked myself if this is rock bottom, and I believe that it was. While observing these homeless people I decided that I had had enough. Yes I wanted drugs, but I realized that I could want life more." - Ben

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REAL LIFE DRUG STORY VIDEOS - Drug Addiction Experiences - Teenage Drugs Stories

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Watch video and learn more about drug and alcohol abuse stories, addiction, treatment, rehabilitation and recovery from Drug Free World and The Truth About Drugs series. Find out how illegal substances, narcotics and stimulants like marijuana, cocaine, meth, ecstasy, and inhalants lead addicts to withdrawal and overdose

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"At the age of twenty, I became an addict to a narcotic which began with a prescription following a surgery. In the weeks that followed [the operation] in addition to orally abusing the tablet, crushing it up enabled me to destroy the controlled release mechanism and to swallow or snort the drug. (It can also be injected to produce a feeling identical to shooting heroin.) The physical withdrawal from the drug is nothing short of agonizing pain." - James

"I didn't think I had a 'drug problem'-I was buying the tablets at the chemist [drug store]. It didn't affect my work. I would feel a bit tired in the mornings, but nothing more. The fact that I had a problem came to a head when I took an overdose of about forty tablets and found myself in the hospital. I spent twelve weeks in the clinic conquering my addiction." - Alex

"Pretty much as long as I can remember I've had highs and lows. I would get easily upset by the littlest things, I would have anger outbursts, or hate someone for no reason at all. For a long while I had thought I was bipolar. I started using drugs last October to help me with my unwanted feelings. But believe it or not, it just made stuff worse! I had to now deal with my addiction and my emotional problems." - Thomas

"I realized after about a year I was addicted. When I decided to quit, I went through withdrawals physically, psychologically, and emotionally. I thought when I was on the pills full time (up to four a day), that I could do anything. They actually seemed to keep my mood steady and balanced. Ever since I have been off the pills, I feel more alive, alert and more capable of walking through life with confidence. I did not realize I had kept myself in an illusion or haze with the pills of false happiness." - Jason

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TRUTH ABOUT PAINKILLERS ADDICTION VIDEO - Real Life Stories - Hydrocodone, Vicodin, Percocet, Xanax Pill Addiction

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Learn more about addiction and abuse of painkillers through Drug Free World, related by recovering addicts including facts and effects of narcotics and opiates like Oxycontin, Oxycodone, Vicodin and Hydrocodone. Learn about illegal use of prescription substances related to heroin through video, including overdose and withdrawal side effects.

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"When I was thirteen, friends would make fun of me if I didn't have a drink. I just gave in because it was easier to join the crowd. "I was really unhappy and just drank to escape my life. I went out less and less, so started losing friends. The more lonely I got, the more I drank. I was violent and out of control. I never knew what I was doing. I was ripping my family apart. "Kicked out of my home at age sixteen, I was homeless and started begging for money to buy drinks. After years of abuse, doctors told me there was irreparable harm to my health.
"I was only sixteen but my liver was badly damaged and I was close to killing myself from everything I was drinking." - Samantha
"By the time I was in my mid-twenties I was locked in to drinking. "A lot of my first concerns were about drinking, and everything else came second. I started to realize that when I did not have a drink I had a sense of panic and I would start shaking.
"If I had to go without a drink, I would go through shakes and sweats. I couldn't go for more than a few hours without a drink." - Paul
"This past year I have gone to work drunk, blacked out in clubs and bars and can't remember getting home. Ashamedly I slept with someone and could not even remember the person coming home with me until we bumped into each other the next day.
"I have destroyed two relationships because I hurt them so much through my drinking, but I put drinking first. My family are so hurt that their daughter is killing herself for apparently no reason." - Jamie
"When I went to quit drinking, I realized that alcohol had taken to my body in such a way that I couldn't stop. I would shake like I was going to break, I would start to sweat, I could not think until I had another drink. I could not function without it.
"I spent the next eight years in and out of detox and hospitals, trying to figure out what the hell happened to me, how was it possible I couldn't quit. It was the worst and longest nightmare." - Jan

"My addiction built steadily and, before I realized it, I had become a morning as well as an afternoon drinker. I decided to stop drinking. I lay awake most of that night, and by noon the next day every bone in my body ached. In a blind panic, I nervously poured a glass full of gin, my hands shaking so violently that I spilled half the bottle. As I gulped it down, I could feel the agony gradually lessening. Then I finally knew the terrible truth: I was hooked. I couldn't quit." - Faye

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THE TRUTH ABOUT ALCOHOL, Real Life Stories - Effects of Drinking Alcohol Addiction

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Watch video on effect of alcohol abuse, addiction and alcoholism consequences through testimonials to Drug Free World from former alcoholics about effects of problem drinking including drunk driving, withdrawal and possibly lethal poisoning. Find out facts about teen binge drinking and youth alcohol statistics.

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"I started using on a lark, a dare from a best friend who said that I was too chicken to smoke a joint and drink a quart of beer. I was fourteen at that time. After seven years of using and drinking I found myself at the end of the road with addiction. I was no longer using to feel euphoria, I was just using to feel some semblance of normality. Then I started having negative feelings about myself and my own abilities. I hated the paranoia. I hated looking over my shoulder all the time. I really hated not trusting my friends.
"I became so paranoid that I successfully drove everyone away and found myself in the terrible place no one wants to be in-I was alone. I'd wake up in the morning and start using and keep using throughout the day." - Paul

"I was given my first joint in the playground of my school. I'm a heroin addict now, and I've just finished my eighth treatment for drug addiction." - Christian

"The teacher in the school I went to would smoke three or four joints a day. He got lots of students to start smoking joints, me included. His dealer then pushed me to start using heroin, which I did without resisting. By that time, it was as if my conscience was already dead." - Veronique

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TRUTH ABOUT MARIJUANA VIDEO - Real Life Stories - Side Effects of Marijuana, Cannabis and Hashish Facts

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Watch video outlining The Truth About Marijuana from personal experience of former addicts who found a gateway to abuse of illegal street drugs, narcotics and stimulants through smoking cannabis or pot as a youth or teen. Learn more about addiction prevention education and intervention from Drug Free World.

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“You believe that coke will increase your perceptions, that it will allow you to surpass yourself, that you will be able to control things. It’s bloody nonsense. After a while you don’t pay your bills anymore, you don’t wash yourself anymore, you give up your friends, your family. You will become defenseless and alone.” —Nigel

“With coke, you are like a moth stuck on a light. It attracts you more and more and you can’t stop it. It is not physical. It is in your head. The more you have it, the more you take it. I have injected it in myself every ten minutes. I borrowed money from the bank to buy it. One day I became unemployed. It was worse. I used to shoot up all the time. This thing made me insane. I knew it, but I continued. I became a total failure.” —Marilyn

“My friend was on drugs for four years, three of which were on hard drugs such as cocaine, LSD, morphine and many antidepressants and painkillers. Actually anything he could get his hands on. He complained all the time of terrible pains in his body and he just got worse and worse till he finally went to see a doctor.

“The doctor told him that there was nothing that could be done for him and that due to the deterioration of his body, he would not live much longer. Within days—he was dead.” —Wayne

“I had no more future. I did not see how I could escape my cocaine dependence. I was lost. I was exploding and unable to stop myself from continuing to seriously abuse cocaine. I had hallucinations that animals were crawling under my skin. I felt them each time I shot up and scraped myself with the point of my syringe until I started bleeding in order to make them leave. I was once bleeding so heavily from this I had to be taken to the hospital.” —Susan

“Don’t touch cocaine. I spent two years in jail because of this drug. And when I got out, life was so hard I started taking the drug again. I know ten girls who became prostitutes because of coke. It’s much more extreme and degrading than we believe. At the time we don’t realize to what degree it destroys us.” —Shawne

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THE TRUTH ABOUT COCAINE VIDEO, Real Life Stories – Effects of Cocaine Addiction

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Watch video and find out facts of cocaine use, abuse and addiction from Drug Free World, including the effects of chronic coke snorting, smoking or injection such as risk of deadly overdose and withdrawal. Learn more about substance abuse prevention and education based on personal experience of ille…

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"Heroin cut me off from the rest of the world. My parents kicked me out. My friends and my brothers didn't want to see me anymore. I was all alone." - Suzanne
"From the day I started using, I never stopped. Within one week I had gone from snorting heroin to shooting it. Within one month I was addicted and going through all my money. I sold everything of value that I owned and eventually everything that my mother owned. Within one year, I had lost everything. "I sold my car, lost my job, was kicked out of my mother's house, was $25,000 in credit card debt, and living on the streets of Camden, New Jersey. I lied, I stole, I cheated.
"I was raped, beaten, mugged, robbed, arrested, homeless, sick and desperate. I knew that nobody could sustain a lifestyle like that very long and I knew that death was imminent. If anything, death was better than a life as a junkie." - Alison
"Drugs equal death. If you do nothing to get out, you end up dying. To be a drug addict is to be imprisoned. In the beginning, you think drugs are your friend (they may seem to help you escape the things or feelings that bother you). But soon, you will find you get up in the morning thinking only about drugs.
"Your whole day is spent finding or taking drugs. You get high all afternoon. At night, you put yourself to sleep with heroin. And you live only for that. You are in a prison. You beat your head against a wall, nonstop, but you don't get anywhere. In the end, your prison becomes your tomb." - Sabrina

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TRUTH ABOUT HEROIN VIDEO - Real Life Stories on Effects of Heroin, Skag, Hell Dust

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Watch the video about the effects of Heroin, with former addicts sharing stories about opiate abuse and addiction, including effects like overdose risk, withdrawal symptoms and terrible craving. Find prevention education for this illegal street narcotic taken by injection, smoking or snorting, aka Skag or Hell Dust.

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The LOST CHILD is motivated by feelings of loneliness. They are easily identified by their shyness. The payoff for the individual is escape into a fantasy world, where they don’t have to deal with all the dysfunctional issues of the family. They offer the family a sense of relief since they present no major problems; they just blend into their surroundings. The lost child is often the third or a middle child. This child’s role is to cause no trouble for the family. They receive little positive or negative attention from the family. Their needs are not attended to, they receive no praise for achievements, and they receive no reassurance about their fears. In order to survive they create a fantasy world where things are as they would like them to be. They have little interpersonal experience, and become more and more isolated. Without treatment, the lost child looks toward leading a lonely life sometimes seeking relief in alcohol, drugs, and over the counter medication.

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The lost child: “Someone who pulls away or removes themselves from the family. If the hero brings positive attention and the scapegoat brings negative attention, I associate this role with ‘no attention.’ That person copes by pulling away, not wanting to be part of the family, and finds friends and hobbies outside of the family system.”

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The lost child: “Someone who pulls away or removes themselves from the family. If the hero brings positive attention and the scapegoat brings negative attention, I associate this role with ‘no attention.’ That person copes by pulling away, not wanting to be part of the family, and finds friends and hobbies outside of the family system.”

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The Lost Child is the child who withdraws in self-preservation. Ignored and invisible, this child experiences loneliness and a feeling of not belonging.

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The Lost Child is the child who withdraws in self-preservation. Ignored and invisible, this child experiences loneliness and a feeling of not belonging.

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Many Lost Children remain in the background into their adult lives, hiding from conflict and healthy risk-taking, stuck in the feeling of being a frightened outsider or unimportant “nobody”. Lost children typically wake up later in life to find that they have missed out on many emotional things others have had, such as a sense of connectedness and having made a difference in the world.

Often overlooked, many opportunities for better things have likely passed them by as they retreated into a quiet world which focused on something of value to them that was not likely related to confident interaction (and even conflict) with others. Some lost children take an interest in material possessions or other pursuits with limited social/intimate requirements.

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Another escape for the disappearing child is to retreat to his or her room. Here solitary hobbies like building models or playing dolls are favorites. Modern kids plant themselves in front of the computer playing video games, or escape with TV. Another solitary favorite is reading. Reading as an escape mechanism is often demonstrated by either or both parents, and of course, the school system routinely rewards students with the uppermost reading abilities, so there is reinforcement for reading throughout childhood. Therefore, this becomes the easiest escape or behavior of the disappearing child.

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The Lost/Disappearing Child is typically played by children in addicted households. To avoid the pain of the chaos and conflict in the living room, which seems to be where most of the drama occurs, the disappearing child finds predictable ways of escaping.   One way is to adopt another family altogether. This is often another family on the same block where the child has formed a trusting friendship with a playmate and that playmate’s family has created a welcoming safe home. Throughout childhood this home is where the disappearing child heads right after school after checking in with Mom, Dad, or an older sibling. Here is where the disappearing child ‘hangs out’, where snack foods, and meals, TV, easy banter, and acceptance are always available in endless supply. The disadvantage, or possible advantage, of this escape is the loss of closeness with others in the nuclear family. The advantage, besides avoiding dysfunction, may be life-long friendships formed and maintained with these really special neighbors, unless of course the process is interrupted by a family crisis or constant moves by the nuclear family. This phenomenon of constantly relocating, or “the geographical cure” will be explored more fully in another chapter.

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This person is usually the closest to the addicted person. They do things that allow the addicted person to continue their behaviour without facing the consequences. For example, they might take on added household responsibilities, or some of the responsibilities of the addict. They do it because they want to protect themselves and their family.

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ENABLER
If it weren't for the enablers, a family's dysfunction could not long exist. The tragedy is that the enablers can't grasp that fact. Every member in a dysfunctional family plays the enabler role to some extent. This role was first identified in families where a "normal" spouse was married to an alcoholic. Let's say for convenience only that Dad is the alcoholic and Mom is not. She's keeping the family together -- heroic, martyr Mom. She keeps his drinking a secret and enlists the children's cooperation in deceiving the world. Thus he need not face public approbation for his behavior. She lies to the boss for him when he calls in sick. She bails him out of scrapes and sometimes out of jail itself. She cleans up the messes, both physical and situational, that he's constantly making.

The children, regardless of the other family roles they assume, become enablers also. Assuming in their innocence that everything happening in the family is somehow linked to their behavior, they accept just as much guilt and responsibility as Mom. They learn to keep their mouths shut. They play intensely the roles described above. That is all enabling. By adjusting everything to the alcoholic, they all make it easier for him to be one. The kids have no choice. This family is all they have.

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The Super Enabler is the child often closest to the addict emotionally. This child is the family ‘workhorse’.  Typically if a daughter, this child assumes the household chores left undone by both the addict and the codependent parent. If a son, this child is constantly trying to protect his mother if the addict is his father. Either way, inside he or she typically has low self-esteem, and there is much unexpressed anger. The favorite fantasy and role is that of the martyr, and this child is the one most likely to be presented to members of the medical profession because another favorite attention-getting device for the super enabler is hypochondria.

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The enabler (or caretaker): “Someone who allows the addiction to continue. The classic example is the wife calling in for the husband, saying he’s ‘sick.’ ”

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The enabler (or caretaker): “Someone who allows the addiction to continue. The classic example is the wife calling in for the husband, saying he’s ‘sick.’ ”

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Each role has distinct characteristics and reasons for existing. The DEPENDENT person is motivated by feelings of shame. They are identified by symptoms of drug use and abuse. For the individual the payoff is the relief of pain, for the family there is no payoff. The ENABLER is motivated by feelings of anger. On the outside this person appears capable and strong but on the inside they feel: tired, resentful, worried, suffering from low self-esteem, obsessed with the substance abusers behaviors, feelings of helplessness, are at greater risk of developing a physical illness than the spouse of a non-substance abuser, and are greater at risk of being depressed and becoming chemically dependent. They are identified by symptoms of powerlessness. For the individual the payoff is feelings of importance, for the family the payoff is someone acting in a position of responsibility. These two roles are usually filled by adults. When there is only one adult in the family, the hero child may take on the role of the enabler.

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The HERO CHILD is motivated by feelings of inadequacy and guilt. The identifying symptom for them is over achievement. They tend to be outstanding students and don’t get into trouble; they help around the house and take care of the other children. The hero child is often the first born. The payoff for the individual is positive attention and they give the family a sense of self-worth. The hero child knows something is wrong and feels obligated to “fix” it and tries to fix the problem between parents by achieving something that will make them proud and forget the problem. Unfortunately each achievement is only a temporary cure, the hero tries compulsively harder for the next curing achievement and when they are not able to fix the problem they feel like a failure, guilty and not good enough to fix everything. Beneath the “perfect” facade, the hero is also angry, they have tried hard, but no one really appreciates the effort. They get tired of trying, but leave the family in an acceptable way: joins the military; goes off to college, gets married, takes a job in a distant city. Heros' are perfectionist and without help may become: workaholics, abusers of prescription medications and the next generation of enablers.

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The golden child is the one who “can do no wrong”. This child is viewed as being the best and the brightest; even if they’re not.

Some golden children play the part well and end up stuck in the role of success-object, and some golden children are entitled troublemakers who are never expected to actually earn anything, due to their already-favored status. Golden children are expected to abandon their authentic selves in exchange for hollow esteem.

Many golden children wake up much later in life to a nice home, a fancy car, a high-paying job and a supposedly perfect family, all of which they suddenly realize they’d like to trade for something more authentic. Other golden children are the opposite; their lives are a mess because they’ve never had to work to earn their status, and the rest of the world doesn’t reward them similarly for doing nothing.

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The Hero Child is the child who fantasizes that if he or she accomplishes enough, then the whole family will be ‘Ok’ and look ‘normal’ to the outside world.

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The Hero Child is the child who fantasizes that if he or she accomplishes enough, then the whole family will be ‘Ok’ and look ‘normal’ to the outside world.

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This child is overly conscientious, conforms to all rules from authority, and constantly strives for approval and acceptance from everyone, especially adults. In spite of being a high achiever, the hero child always feels inadequate.  This child will also be the members of the family who will try to make sure harmony is present within the family at the cost of his/her own emotional needs.

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The SCAPEGOAT CHILD is motivated by feelings of hurt, and is identified by acts of delinquency. These children receive attention but it is negative attention for their bad behaviors. They take the focus in the family away from the dependent person. These children often grow up with an even higher risk for developing addictions. The two family roles of hero and scapegoat children are the two roles most likely to be switched. In large families were there are four or more children it is not unusual for each of the four children roles to be played out. The scapegoat is usually the second child. Since the hero has the family’s positive attention, this child seeks what is left; negative attention - the child’s role is to take the attention away from the family’s trouble. The scapegoat usually seeks acceptance from peers who are also having trouble with their parents, they frequently become involved in alcohol, drug abuse, vandalism, and sexual promiscuity which leads to trouble with school authorities and the police.

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"Acting out child" - "Scapegoat"
This is the child that the family feels ashamed of - and the most emotionally honest child in the family.  He/she acts out the tension and anger the family ignores.  This child provides distraction from the real issues in the family.  The scapegoat usually has trouble in school because they get attention the only way they know how - which is negatively.  They often become pregnant or addicted as teenagers.
These children are usually the most sensitive and caring which is why they feel such tremendous hurt.  They are romantics who become very cynical and distrustful.  They have a lot of self-hatred and can be very self-destructive.  This often results in this child becoming the first person in the family to get into some kind of recovery.

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The Scapegoat Child acts out, gets into trouble, and gains attention while deflecting attention away from the addicted parents. This child is constantly in trouble. There is open defiance of authority, with anger the favorite escape. This child is most likely to sport an outrageous personal appearance utilizing whatever is currently ‘in’ at the time in social circles. At the beginning of the 21st century this typically includes various body piercing, tattoos, the so-called “gothic” look, or maybe brightly colored spiked hair.  This child will also at any cost defy the family to the point to where schooling is affected and may even become suspended, expelled, or drop out altogether.  The ultimate goal of this child is to do the direct opposite of any authority figure.

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The Class/Family Clown draws attention away from the pain and dysfunction at home by entertaining others. This child is “cute.” He or she is always truly immature, but plays up the immaturity to draw attention away from the big people who are the dangerous dysfunctional addicts. Inside this child is filled mostly with insecurity. The following quote from the work From Survival to Recovery describes this child beautifully.

“To diffuse the battles that often raged around us, or to divert our parents from their attacks on one another or other members of the family, some of us learned to entertain. We tried to blunt family crises with jokes, stories, musical performances, or even comedy revues. We became quite talented and popular with our classmates. Society rewarded us with the laughter, applause, and attention, but in time we found that even when we desperately wanted to shed it the mask would not come off. We felt driven to perform and talk compulsively even when we were exhausted or needed comfort ourselves. Intimacy was difficult for us to achieve, because tender or passionate moments prompted us to joke or wisecrack.” (Survival, P.15)

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The Mascot is the child who jokes and distracts the family from the heaviness of its dysfunction. This child expresses the effects of the family’s painful experiences as humor.

Mascots have difficulty accepting and expressing difficult feelings, and will joke their way out of serious circumstances, avoiding the real issue that needs addressing. Mascots may find themselves in entertainment-related fields, since it’s second nature for them to make light of tragedy, pain and suffering. Many mascots awaken later in life to find they have not been taken seriously, or are always counted on to make everyone feel better, perhaps at the expense of acknowledging their own painful realities.

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The MASCOT CHILD is motivated by feelings of fear. These children are identified by their clowning around and hyperactivity. They receive attention by these actions and offer the family some fun. They often carry this immaturity with them into their adulthood. The mascot child is often the youngest. They sense that something is wrong in the family but receives reassurance from other family members that nothing is wrong - this discrepancy between one’s perception and the reassurance of others causes a continual conflict that leads to anxiety and feelings of “going crazy”. They feel less frightened when others give them attention. They develop behaviors to draw attention to themselves; these behaviors are often clowning around or being cute. The attention they receive for these behaviors reinforces them to continue to do them. The compulsive need for attention is often misunderstood as hyperactivity or paranoia.