“My first drink was when I was 14. I went to jail 3 times by the time I was 21. I was mentally institutionalized 4 times because I wanted to kill myself or someone else. Yet, the feeling I get when the 3 rd drink hits my throat, I know it’s “game on” – something happens that connects between my head and my chest and I just know that I can rest easy. I don’t have to be scared anymore. And its because of that feeling, that I wouldn’t stop drinking. Until one day, that feeling of not having fear, went away. The booze stopped working."

“It was love at first Puff. I smoked a Juul at a party. The next day at school, I searched for my friend because I wanted to hit it again. It would turn into 3-4 times a day after that. A year later, I’m managing my day where I make sure I have ten minutes in between when I can go to my car to smoke and back to work so that my boss doesn’t see me.”

“I was the new girl and everyone liked me and then one day, this girl Hilary told me we couldn’t be friends. After that, I was called a “Dog” every day. They would bark and howl at me. Sometimes kids would come up beside me and then fall to all fours and say, “so this is what its like living so low to the ground”. I would go home crying every day. The teachers and my parents never did anything. You just kind of get used to it after a while. You start to eat alone, fake being sick, ask to switch seats so you can sit in the back of the class so you can be the first to get out of class first. You must be smarter than they are, smarter than everyone.”