10 years! I have not done any illegal / illicit drugs for 10 years now.

It actually was not difficult. I knew deep down in my heart I did not want any part of it.

I have a "sure, why not" attitude, but luckily I do not have an addictive personality. My heart goes out to those who really struggle with addiction.

Meth user.

Very sad. And on Christmas Eve.

It hurts really badly to lose a young person to drugs.

(edit punctuation)

But as your post so eloquently states - these deaths are lessons for the rest of us.

Congratulations and Merry Christmas.

combining cocaine and heroin. He was all alone, sadly, so there was no one there to call for an ambulance.

Merry Christmas to you too!

We are all in this, together.

PB

I would love it if I inspired others! I really would.

able to return to your true self.

Happy Holidays.

Friends of mine have died from heroin. Only a couple have been close friends, but those deaths hit hard! A punch in the gut.

Happy Holidays!

Don't know you but I'm proud of you.

One day I went to the bar where everyone hung out and did lines and sold and bought. This day was different. Nobody had any. People didn't say hello, how are you, they said, "ya holdin" and if you said no, they'd leave without even saying goodbye.

That's what did it for me.

You really can.

One of my closest friends OD'd when we were thirty. He was one of the best of us, but his addiction was too strong. I still miss him every day.

So glad you were able to put it aside.

We lose so many talented people to drugs. Okay, so it's mostly to heroin... heroin combined with cocaine and alcohol is deadly, as was in my dearest person's case.

I am so sorry about your friend OD' ing. It really hurts!

Thank you for your support!

miss it. It was such a pain in the ass to keep getting. Then there is the effect of never really being satisfied or comfortable anywhere. It's not long before you need another bump. Before is started messing around with coke, I'd be perfectly happy hanging out and drinking for hours.

My coke use was a joke compared to many others I know. Still, over a year and a half, 50 to 100 bucks a week was more than I had any business blowing on it.

With cocaine, you're never satisfied. I've had my entire face numbed, but there is always the need for more, eventually. Once the initial high wears off.

There's just no way that that is conducive to a healthy lifestyle.

Maybe you'll give them hope and determination.

Something I am extremely thankful for.

Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas!

Keep up the good work, and merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas to you, too!

eom

I know egg-ZACK-lee how hard that is.

Good job!

Congratulations keep it up. Merry Christmas!!!

"There's no happy ending to cocaine. You either die, you go to jail, or else you run out." - Sam Kinison



RL

Always asking, "is there more."

I never got to the point of needing to have it on a regular basis, but when it did have it, like going in on some with a friend, I couldn't stop until it was all gone.

I wonder if I felt the same way about sugar as a kid at one time.

I enjoyed acid, sometimes. I enjoyed mescaline most times. I really enjoyed ecstasy the first time I did it.

Haven't done any of those in a loooong time. Didn't make a conscious decision to quit, things just kinda fell that way, and I wouldn't know where to find any of them now even if I wanted to go another round.

But I liked the psychedelics. They really were like taking a trip. I'm still intrigued by the idea that they may open doors of perception, giving access to realities that are normally closed to us. The idea sparks my sense of adventure.

Now I smoke occasionally, drink a few beers a night, and sometimes tie one on. But like you, the hard drugs have faded away.

On your losing friends, you gotta wonder what kinda friends they really were. Maybe they were real friends who didn't get off the ride when you did, and were more under the power of the drugs. Cocaine is a hell of a drug. But I'm thinking at some point it all became about who wanted to ride that ride with them, and when you didn't, you kinda fell out of their lives because their lives had become all about that ride.

And I'm sorry to hear about your friend who fell victim to it.

Didn't mean to write a novel there.

Congrats on overcoming something that traps many.

you did it!

10 years is huge!! I too am very thankful for you

Me, 10 years alcohol & tobacco free!

i'm not an addictive personality, either, and I have lost friends in a somewhat similar manner. it told me that they weren't the friends I needed, or that I thought they were.

My ex-husband had a pretty substantial crack addiction. As the sober one in the family I really suffered, as did my bank account. He used to come home in the middle of the night and drag me out to the ATM to get him more money. He was mean when he was like that, so I had to go along with it. It wasn't a good time...I'm so glad I'm out of that situation. I think he's slowed down now, but I don't have anything to do with him.

You'll never know who you touched with that.

This made me think to my 40th HS reunion last year. In preparing to attend it, went through the online registry. A lot of them were people I knew who I'm sure was like your personal friend. I recall how I danced with this trap at a young age.

When I met up with them, I saw some things, not illegal, but certainly addictive that seem to have turned lots of my classmates into unhealthy people. It either slowly kills you and those around you (by being so unhealthy) or drives you off a cliff a la James Dean.

I guess what I'm saying is that we deal with it every day, so good for you, cause I think a lot of us are easily addicted!

of happiness for you and sadness that my best friend "went out" and used, killing her.

This will be the 7th Christmas without her -- she loved Christmas. I was the one who got her into NA -- she came to me when she hit bottom. I bought her a train ticket when she called, needing her best friend (we lived in different states), and she came to me, staying with me for a while and going with me to her first NA meeting after I tracked down a local one. I've never been a substance abuser -- I was a mental health professional and could empathize, help her in all kinds of ways, but I didn't have that substance abuse shared-history and different kind of support that NA subsequently gave her. We hit the best possible meeting for her -- it struck her just in the right place, and she went home and became very involved in her local NA group.

Sadly, it just took that one time (that we know of). It turned out that her heart was severely damaged from years of substance abuse and gave out after that one last time.

Your 10 years are certainly worth celebrating & sharing! Congratulations to you -- staying with substance abuse is a deadly path....literally.

peace and low stress

Congrats!

Cocaine is a devastating habit. I know you know but I want to emphasize what you did is nothing less dramatic than saving your life.

on ten years. Indeed, a major milestone.

Drug addiction is one of the biggest problems we face as a nation, in my opinion.

Many people don't realize how prevalent it is, and how devastating.

A lot of people never get past it. Good for you for doing so.

Sorry, hit enter before I got to the text...

As someone who is soon to celebrate 30 years of sobriety, I can with full confidence say:

YOU ROCK!