This column is not to tell you that I know for sure what it is like to try Marajuana or Ecstasy or any other parafanalia. It is not about how many drugs I know are out there or what their nicknames are. This column is about what I know for sure about NOT doing drugs. The truth is I have never tried any kind of illegal drug in my life. How could that be when I just turned twenty-four and I lived around the same high school and college culture most other kids around my age have? It's simple, I did "just say no" and stayed away from environments that would try and tempt me.

If you have read my other columns you would already know that I was taught to learn from others' mistakes so I could avoid as many as possible. It was so apparant to me that drugs were killers of the mind body and spirit by seeing the affect it had on others. Listening to testimonies about how "good" drugs feel didn't convince me to try. I've learned from example that it is easier to never try something than to try something, even just once, and quit. That goes for anything. If something is harmful but feels good temporarily that is also a false fix in life. I have seen drugs tear many people down; from my neighbors, friends, friends of friends, people on talk shows and many more. Many thought they could quit at any time, but wouldn't. It is easier to stay away in the first place. Don't fall into the trap or be arrogant enough to say it won't trap you; you just don't know until it's too late.

Not doing drugs never made me feel less of a person, as many teens will fall in the trap of the "cool" people lie. The "cool" people lie is that anyone who is popular or liked in high school must do drugs and if you don't try like the rest than you are "not cool." First of all, this is the 21st century and aren't we learning from the media that it is "cool" to be an individual, so that should help give you some relief when you feel like one of the only people not trying drugs in your class. Besides, doing what's right never made my self-esteem meter plummet.

I noticed that as a person not doing drugs I am not a slave. Even cigarettes or caffeine can make someone a slave. The drug-user needs to keep on top of their addiction, because over time their body and mind doesn't recognize the drug is a foreign killer; it starts to believe that the drug is a helper because it keeps the system on some sort of routine and high. I am so free for not needing that foreign killer in my body. I am not enslaved by its false euphoria. The euphoric feelings that come here and there in my life are from real events and accomplishments in my life. Drug-users crash without their false euphoria. And when they are sober between hits, I know they are no happier with their life. When they face reality they don't like it; it can be too much for them; they aren't used to the mundane and simple pleasures in life.

I know that never doing drugs will help me look younger. I can brag about that, because I consciously know anyone can accomplish looking and feeling younger if they never do drugs or if they quit today. Many drug users start young, in their teens or early twenties, therefore they think that their life has so much more to be lived; that what they are doing to their body right now has no real affect on them later. I have had reunions with peers from high school, with the knowledge that they are drug-users and seen that they really looked unhealthy, and mayI mention once again, that I am only 24! Their body and face looks taxed at an early stage; they are in a marathon to disaster. Life isn't that long and drugs aren't worth looking ten years older than you are.

Keeping your standards high for yourself, will make you a stronger person all around. Try to be the best person you can be everyday so you never have to question what you would say if offered drugs, because you know you will be offered drugs at some time in your life and probably more than once, twice or three times. You will constantly have to say no. It is super easy to say no also, especially if you choose your friends wisely, then you will have a support system of nay-sayers. Friends who want you to try drugs aren't real friends anyway because they should know from experience that they aren't truly happy about being a user; there is a hole in their life. Friends don't want other friends to feel that slavery and emptiness.

So, I hope I have convinced you that drugs are stupid. I know for sure that I would not have accomplished so many things so far in my life if I used drugs. And not doing drugs has made me feel super good about myself and the same can go for anyone who listens to this advice.