Greetings  fellow   students!     Louis  Rose here,   Class of '71.   Sorry  I'm  thirty years late. Maybe they'll  write  me  a pass.   I wanted to tell you about the drugs I used in  high  school.    I never  planned  to use drugs,   it  just happened. I started smoking hashish in 1969, my junior year, up on the  aqueduct  behind   the band room,  and  didn't  stop using drugs  until 1981.    Twelve years  is a long time to be high, don't you think?  When   I  first got high,   the feeling was  better than anything   I  had  ever experienced.   People who don't  use drugs often won't consider the fact that the driving force behind drug use is that it   feels great!   Some people  in high school  hardly ever feel great. So why shouldn't they use drugs?   After thirty years I have a few reasons I'd like to share.

I never learned to deal with pain or stress or problems until I stopped using drugs.

Whenever  I hurt inside,  or was involved  in a   stressful situation, or had a problem, I would get high. I felt better for a couple hours,  or days  depending   on  how high I was,   but   when  I came  down my  problems were still there,  and were a little bit worse. Sometimes my friends or family helped me out with a problem, but I was never grateful. I was too high!

I have not finished college, have lost several dozen jobs, lost    hundreds  of   thousands  of  dollars,    have  been divorced  twice,  have  a  fully   grown  son  I have never seen,    two  other  sons  who have abused drugs,  and   a daughter   who  is  dead   because  of  a  drug overdose. Most  of  this  can  be  linked  to my lack of maturity or inability  to  function  effectively because of my drug use.

I  am sure you know that if you miss the first few weeks of   a difficult  class like chemistry or algebra, it is almost impossible to catch up,  and there is a good chance you will fail.   Life is like that too.   It has been almost twenty years  since I stopped using drugs and alcohol.    It took ten   years   for  me  to mature   emotionally.   I  am  still attempting to complete my bachelor's degree in political science.   I work  as  an   administrative assistant  for the president of a large company. He is forty-five years old, and I am forty-six. I have hopes, I have dreams, just like you,   but  I don't know  if I will ever see them come true.

Still, life is good. My mind is clear and sharp. I enjoy my life,   and I have a chance to live it.   I hope you will think that  what   I had to say  was worth something,  and  that you  won't use drugs.  If you  know  someone who  uses drugs,    you   can  be sure   that    they couldn't care less about   what I have said.  They are just too high,  and  it feels    too  good.    I   hope  that  you  will  go  and  tell someone  about   them,  so   that   they can  receive help now, before it is too late.

Louis William Rose