30 Days of Truth: Day 20-Your Views on Drugs and Alcohol

My views on drugs and alcohol...I think they are things people use to make themselves feel different. They alter our moods, physiology, and psychology. People use them to escape stress and to celebrate happy times. People use them recreationally and the effects are as broad ranging as the products.

Alcohol:  I love my wine, chardonnay with heavy oak to be specific.  I no longer drink beer or liquor (except for the occasional tequila shot) because they are all distilled through grains, and I am intolerant of wheat and corn.  I also avoid sugar, so anything mixed with liquor is a no-no.  I will stick with wine thanks.  I associate drinking chardonnay with time with my girlfriends.  It's so fun to hang out with a group of friends and unwind while the kids play and eat snacks.  I started a happy hour tradition in Virginia with some other mom-friends, and since we've moved to Texas, it's morphed into neighborhood parties occasionally.   

Medicinal use of drugs is one thing. People take prescriptions for various physical ailments and conditions. Medicinal marijuana is legal in some states and helps people cope with debilitating symptoms.   I don't see anything wrong with medicinal use of drugs.  In fact, I keep a few pharmaceutical companies in business with all the prescriptions I take for chronic conditions.

Using hard drugs sucks.  Drugs like heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, and meth are addictive and deadly.  As a parent and educator, I would tell young people to stay away from them at all costs.   I'll never forget the first funeral I took my teenage daughter to in 2007.  The big brother of one of her friends OD'd by accident during his senior year of high school.  It was heartbreaking to see him lying there in his coffin, knowing it was an awful mistake that could never be taken back.  His entire future was lost because of doing drugs.  Not worth it, in my humble opinion.