Today It Was Mac, But It Could've Easily Been My Brother, Addiction Doesn't Discriminate

On Friday, September 7th, Mac Miller died from an overdose.

He has touched so many lives in so many ways. The music he produced will be something that lives on forever. He has brought together so many different kinds of people over his years of producing.

When someone dies one of the first questions anybody jumps to ask is "How?" And yet again, like with so many, we are forced to say of overdose.

Addiction is no joking matter. And for many, it is a very touching subject. With the opioid epidemic sweeping the nation, there is no one in this country that can say their lives have not been touched by drugs in some way.

Whether you have seen someone do drugs, heard about someone getting out of rehab, or even recently getting arrested with drug charges.

In one way or the other, drugs have affected too many lives and broken too many hearts.

Drugs are not meant to be played with. Especially with something so valuable as our lives.

See also: Stop Praising Demi While Judging Every Other Addict Around You

We all know times can be rough and it can be tempting to turn to things to soften the ache. But nothing other than a pure life adjustment will ever satisfy the pain and void.

I have personally had the torture of watching what drugs will do someone.

I used to live in fear every day for too many countless years, that the next time my phone rang it would be the news of my brother's death.

I know someone can't put that kind of weight on their own shoulders, but the fear it used to bring me is something I can't even describe.

I watched my brother for years go in and out of jails for countless charges. I watched him throw away his career dreams because of his substance abuse. I watched his family get ripped from his hands because he could barely remember who he was and what he did.

For the longest time, I didn't even know who my brother was when he was not high. Because for as long as I could remember, he had always been on them. And I had always turned a blind eye to it because at the time, "that's just who he is."

Because of this experience I have chosen to not partake in substance using. Not everyone has had this experience and not everyone understands. I am not able to completely remove them from my life (because like I said one way or the other, they're everywhere), but I have chosen not to do them.

Even though I have watched my brother completely recover and rebuild his life from hell-up, drugs are still not a desire I have to try.

See also: Mac Miller Is Dead At 26 From A Disease We Still Fail To Recognize

In the past and even still present, people have always been quick to try and pressure me into doing something they call fun.

I'm normally pretty subtle with my denial but after so many requests, eventually, I lose my grip and just remove myself from the situation. Because I know even if I express how and why I fell about drugs, they will not care.

I used to get so hurt by the things my brother said to me and my family. For a while during his recovery, I couldn't even look past it. I couldn't even see the person he was trying to walk away from because I still saw him as that person. The person that said and did all of those mean and unspeakable things.

But then I realized who they are on drugs, is not who they truly are. That is just their thousands of pounds of repression, coming out.

In the TMZ report, it is said that Mac Miller's substance use had started to spiral out of control because of his break up with Ariana Grande.

Yet again another example of someone suppressing things rather than dealing with them head-on.

Substance use and abuse is not something to just be thrown around. Everyone talks about it. Everyone hears about it. Everyone raps about it. Hell, almost everyone out here is doing it.

It's as if everyone just thinks they are indestructible. As if everyone can do any kind of drug and never face any consequences.

Everyone can make the choice for the initial act, but barely anyone can be strong enough and put it down and deal with their problems.

Drugs are something we glorify and something that we cry about when we read about an OD but no one is actually listening and trying to do anything about it.

No one is trying to fix their own damn problems.

Hell, I'm sure there will be even more people out there in the next couple of weeks doing even more drugs in celebration of Mac Miller's life.

How about instead you decide to get the help you need. To let this death not just be known as another OD.

Let it be known as the day you put it down and walked away. Let it be known as the day you found sobriety.