Category - Young People/College

Family Bar

Michelle’s first drink alone was at age 11. Her family home was complete with a bar that was never locked. She came home from school one day and found an open bottle of wine in the kitchen fridge, and so she tasted it. She felt...

Teenage Sneaky Drinker

Jenn returns to re-tell her story of teenage alcoholism.  She had her first drink in her first week of her freshman year in high school, but she had wanted to drink for a long time leading up to it.  Jenn was too scared to drink...

Stealing Pills

Aaron was always rebellious, even as a young child. At 13 he started smoking marijuana and drinking at 14. He quickly discovered how easy it was to steal pills from friends’ bathroom cabinets. Aaron says he was addicted to...

Pill Kid

Catya’s first use of prescription pain medication came at ten years old; she had strenuous physical ailments even at that age.  But she soon learned the pills could “treat” more than physical pain.  By fourteen...

Broke The Rule

Cory started smoking pot at twelve and drinking by thirteen.  But even at the young age of thirteen, Cory had a rule for himself: he would continue to drink and smoke, but that he would never user hard drugs.  It took only two...

Cutting

Jenny started cutting herself at the age of eleven; drinking with boys and smoking their mom’s marijuana at twelve.  When she got into high school,  her friends started dying because of alcohol and drugs – this scared Jenny. When...

Shyness

Mike’s first time getting high was at 14 years old.  He had already been drinking with friends when he (and they) tried marijuana, thinking it would lead them to having more fun; he never intended to embark a disastrous...

Thirteen

Brianna started drinking with her cousins and friends at the age 13; getting alcohol from the Head of Police’s liquor cabinet. She always hung out with older people and dated older guys. Brianna says drugs sped up her bottom...

Teenage Husband

Daniel says he led a sheltered childhood in a Midwestern town and raised an evangelical Christian.  At the age of 15 he “escaped” to another town, leading to his first drinking experience in addition to his first...

Heroin And Dad

Nicole’s father was a heroin addict and her mother left him when she was only 3 years old. For the first 10 years of her life, Nicole watched her father struggle to get clean and sober. At 15, Nicole started drinking and...