NIDA

“Road accident, four killed! Driver under the influence of alcohol”

This line often hits the news headings, but on March 15, 2007, it hit home. I woke up preparing for school like any other day and when I was heading for the door to leave that headline appeared across my family TV. Four faces appeared right after, with names I knew too well. That day I sat and listened to a news anchor tell me my closest friends would never graduate and never go to college. Every day, I live with the fact that I could not have saved them.

Growing up in a small minority city, drugs were openly used. The streets were filled with drug addicts and drug dealers. I was so tired of seeing my peers succumbing to drugs and dropping out of high school, that I made it my mission to become an advocate. Drug addiction is something that I knew about on a personal level. So as a junior in high school I challenged myself to learn more about it from a scientific point- of- view. I volunteered at the local Veteran Affairs Medical Center, in the “Hope” program. The program admitted drug addicts who had relapsed or ove...