Why I Would Never Use Heroin

When I was growing up, I never came across anyone that used heroin. There were plenty of drinkers in my family, but no one I knew ever did anything this hard. In fact, I never heard of it until I was about 14. A neighborhood woman gave me a fiction book about a girl that gets hooked on heroin. I read that book so many times because I could not believe that anyone would want to do drugs that could cause them to become sick looking and possibly limbless.

In high school we had a visitor come in and talk to us about the dangers of using heroin. She looked very sad and downtrodden and her clothes didn't fit very well. She told us about how she got hooked on heroin and began to share needles with her husband. He ended up contracting HIV, which he ended up giving to her. If that wasn't enough, she told us about how her veins collapsed in her arm and she ended up having to have it amputated.

I listened to her story as I fought back tears. Most people would say she was weak, but I felt sad. I found it terrible that someone could want a high so bad that they would end up with a deadly disease and a lost limb. I almost passed out when she admitted that she still used on a regular basis. She says she has help from her "friends" since she only has one arm.

I could NEVER imagine myself using heroin or any other drug after hearing her story. Since then I have come across several people that have allowed heroin addiction to take over their lives. I constantly tell myself that a temporary good feeling is not worth all of the negative things that can happen to my life.