You haven't had something to drink in the past two hours after downing six beers and ripping three shots. You feel okay, and you're clearly more coherent than your friends. You and a bunch of people want late-night Taco Bell or Sheetz or Waffle House.

You are at a summer bonfire with your friends and forgot that you had to work early in the morning, but you'd rather wake up in your own bed and get ready at your own house than where you are. So, you make the conscious decision to get in your car and leave (your friends are too far gone to stop you) even though you know that the Four Loko you just downed is still heavily in your system.

Food isn't worth it. Waking up in your own bed isn't worth it (trust me; call your parents and explain the situation...they will be happy that you were honest with them instead of driving after drinking) ...It doesn't matter the circumstances. If you have something in your system, you should not be behind the wheel of a vehicle. Period. No argument.

And remember, it doesn't have to be alcohol. What about weed or other drugs? Yes, they count. Everything that could effect how you or others drive is included in this. (Shoutout sleep deprived school students...)

This is a sad fact, but we are all guilty of knowing someone who has driven under the influence of something before (even exhaustion). In fact, some of you reading this may have driven under the influence before and survived to tell the tale. But, to put it plainly, it's not okay, and it needs to stop.

Why you ask?

1. You could get pulled over.

This is significantly more important than you may believe.

What is a police officer going to think when they see a vehicle, struggling to remain between the painted lines?

Even if it is your first offense, that still goes on your record, and you still have to pay a heavy fine. What does that impress upon current/potential employers? Do you have extra money laying around to afford the fine? Do you want to rely on others to drive you around because your license is suspended?

What if this isn't your first offense or even your second offense? Do you want to risk being incarcerated? Do you really want to find out what jail is like?

Yeah, you can be lucky and be sentenced to house arrest, but what is that really like--being confined to the walls of your home with only as much to keep you entertained as what is around you? Again, do you want to find out?

No, that doesn't sound like fun to me.

2. There is only one you.

This may sound slightly cliché, but it's the truth.

Last time I checked, there wasn't a proven scientific method of cloning oneself; and also, last time I checked, identical twins aren't even that identical.

The point is, there's no way to replace you. You are an individual with your own personality and your own set of characteristics that make you who you are. Yes, there may be other people who look like you in the world, but there's no one that embodies everything that you are and that you can be.

Not to mention the fact that there are others who 1) consider you a friend, 2) look up to you, and/or 3) love you. Do you want your parents or guardians to get the phone call that says their "baby" was in a terrible accident? Do you want police officers to go knocking on their door at two in the morning (nothing good ever happens after 2 a.m.), telling them that you didn't make it?

Stop, and try to imagine what that would do to them and to your other family members and to your friends. Imagine the consequences of your actions.

3. You're endangering others as well.

When you get behind the wheel and are under the influence of anything, you're not the only one effected.

Think about the innocent person walking through the crosswalk that you fail to see because you have the "spins" or because you're too busy fooling around with the other people in the car. For that matter, think about the other people in your car (if there are any).

Think about the other vehicles on the road, driven by people who also have families that depend on them and/or love them. What about the children in the backseats of those vehicles who have their entire lives ahead of them?

Do you really want to be responsible for the bodily harm of others...or worse?

Take it from someone who lost a friend because he was in the backseat of a vehicle that was driven by someone who was intoxicated. I had to watch what it did to everyone who loved him--his parents, his brother, his classmates, etc. I would never wish that on anyone, not even on my worst enemy. Rest in peace, Zack.

Moreover, take it from someone who was robbed of knowing his uncle; whose father, aunts and uncle were robbed of years with their brother; whose grandfather and grandmother had to bury a child; whose friends had to mourn the untimely death of someone they cared about, all because another driver who was under the influence crossed the median and hit him. Rest in peace, Uncle Terry.

Please, think before you take your life or the lives of your friends or the lives of people you don't even know into your own hands. Take it from someone who has felt the effects of this issue more than anyone should; it's not worth it.

Say it with me...

It's not worth it.

It's not worth it.

It's not worth it.