I tried pot since most of my friends in high school were regularly doing it. It had no real effect on me, so I shrugged it off and never bothered with it again. Later on, these same friends were still smoking it--but that seemed to be all they did. Hanging out with them meant watching them smoke bowls and play video games... but since I had no desire to do it with them, there was nothing there for me.
I started smoking cigarettes as a teenager--for the same stupid reason many do; I wanted to look more grown up and tough. Tough guys smoked, right? It took some doing (the first few times I inhaled I thought would kill me) but in no time flat I was hooked.
I started taking an interest in bodybuilding, which effectively kept me away from most things like heroine and cocaine (how do you work out when you're messed up?)--but cigarettes were my crutch for quite a few years. I kicked the habit cold-turkey, and for reasons I'll bring up later, never took it up again to this day.
For several years, the only thing I really had was the occasional beer and my daily pot of coffee (which continues to this very day--caffeine has little effect on me these days: I can drink a pot of coffee and go straight to bed). Diet sodas are commonplace, and those are caffeine-ladden, as well. Caffeine, in fact, is my biggest "vice" of today.
I was diagnosed five years ago with Hodgkin's Disease Lymphoma, and have spent all this time hitting remission and relapsing. I'm in remission now, and it seems to be holding--but that's after ABVD chemotherapy, CHOP chemotherapy, and two bone marrow transplants (one autologous, and the other with a donor). Of course, the treatments are very literally poisoning you, which leads to drugs that counteract the side effects of another drug, with another drug to counteract the side effects of the second drug.
I know my neighborhood pharmacist on a first-name basis.
Presently, I'm taking no medication stronger than an occasional Tylenol for the odd muscle pain or headache... Oh, yeah! And my coffee. Can't forget my coffee.
But I never returned to cigarettes. Of course my cancer experiences played a role, but I also lost both grandfathers--both long-time smokers--to emphysema. That's not a graceful way to go.
If you wanted me to itemize everything I've been on in my lifetime... Well... What kind of time do you have? Street-drug wise, I haven't messed with very many at all. In fact, none other than pot, which is so light-weight I hate to list it at all. I'd list cigarettes as the worst thing I've done. It was tough to quit, but it's possible to do and I encourage any Dear Readers out there to do their best to stop right here and right now.
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