When I think about learning about drugs as a kid, I remember the instructors talking a lot about gateway drugs. I never thought much about them, but looking back I realize the important messages that I ignored. Sadly somethings are better learned through experience.
Many drug users begin with alcohol or marijuana because it is widely available and, for the most part, widely accepted. I was the same way. These were the keys that opened the doors to the drug world. Most people I hung out with were using weed or drinking. I also knew others who would use the bigger stuff so when people would get interested in trying something knew they would ask me to find it. I always felt like I was some kind of hero or was going to make a new friend after helping them. That never was the case. We all would go our separate ways until they would him me up again.
Because of drugs I learned how to make friends. This made it difficult to branch out to meet other people. Eventually the friends I made grew out of the drugs. My friends became younger, and younger. That was the turning point where I decided to really move on from drugs.
I took my time to admit what I thought was something that was helping was actually making making things worse off. I don't regret any of it, yeah it was a waste of my time but I see the world from a broken person's perspective. I think that will be helpful in the future when I help and teach others how to learn to love themselves.
The main thing to take away from this is that gateway drugs are a real thing and never try to find happiness from an external, finite source because when that bag runs out, all the problems that you were ignoring are going to come back stronger. Adding withdrawal to that is like having a nightmare you can't escape. If you are going to use drugs, the key is moderation.