Illegal

 Let me preface this blog post: I am NOT against recreational drug use. I believe that people have their own choices to make, even myself. This doesn’t mean that I’m 100% for everything, but I’m not the kind of person to sit and criticize others if “I don’t like it”. It’s like sitting by a smoker and purposefully (and rudely) coughing, or saying, “It smells awful over here!”, “Smoking kills!”, or “You’re ruining my air”. Some bull like that. Now let me begin my actual post.

Photo Copyright 2011 Katie Peters

I have been watching a lot of “Breaking Bad” recently and I think it’s a brilliant show. Bryan Cranston as the main character Walter White is simply groundbreaking. A majority of the acting on that show is fantastic. The character of Jesse Pinkman is, in essence, my older brother. Habits, personality, drug of choice…though my brother was never a meth dealer (to my knowledge). Now, I’m also in the process of writing a musical that is largely based on my family life. I have taken many events from the last nine years of my life and crammed them into about six or seven months (the duration of the story). Watching “Breaking Bad” and Jesse has actually helped to inspire some of the writing I’ve done, since watching him is like rekindling memories of my brother’s past. That said, I’m dealing with a lot of drug-related stories right now.

But lately I’ve been watching somebody on Facebook. She’s a “friend”, but more or less somebody I taught a few years ago. Reading up on her about a month ago, I was horrified to see what her life had become…my boyfriend said, “Stop. You’re not her mom.” That hurt. That’s completely true, but it doesn’t mean that I wanted to care less. I couldn’t help it. So I left it alone for a little while. She popped up on my newsfeed again this morning, so I had to take another peek. This girl is 14 years old, I think, and she and her friends are talking about going to raves every weekend, taking ecstacy, posting pictures online of drugs they’re doing or various paraphernalia. I mean, I’m all for raves. But I’m also 21 and sometimes still have a hard time taking care of myself when I’m under the influence of something. Men (and women) can be pushy and persuasive, and if you’re drunk or what now, how capable are you of fending them off? If you want to, I guess. But I sure as hell know that intoxicated middle-schoolers should not be hanging around twenty-somethings. That’s just kind of disturbing. Yes, I know I’ve said I’m not against recreational drug use, but…at 14?

This morning, I reminded myself that my brother was around that age when he started getting into heavier drug use (from what I can recall), so why should this be any different? And true, why would it be?

I suppose I hope that these kids don’t end up following the same path my brother did because all the years’ worth of pain and suffering (that are probably still not over) aren’t worth it. It hurts me to see people so young trying to act so grown up. I mean, 16, I can say I’d be more likely to expect. But 14? I was 14 years old in 8th grade. That was so many years ago and so many things have happened since then…but I can’t imagine what someone so little could have possibly gone through to choose the life they did. My brother had a good childhood, but was never quite mentally stable, which lead to how he developed. Maybe this girl and her friends are like that. Maybe it’s attention-seeking. I’m not sure. They’re young teens in their rebellious, “I hate parents”, “I’m going to run away with a man” phase, which I get, but MAN. I still can’t wrap my brain around it.

Suffice it to say, it’s good writing material and it’s something to think about.

And hey, at least they can’t drive yet. Saves a few more lives, right?