Pickledlemons
Bluelighter
Sorry if this is in the wrong section.. I wasn't sure where to post this.
I recently had an experience that has been really hard for me process.
Some quick context, I met a cute girl in my first year of high school that I became friends with. Skip ahead about 3 years and I was a recreational meth user. I knew this girl did coke so for her birthday I gave her a small amount of speed. I said something like " it feels like coke but lasts longer" and she put it straight up her nose. Sometime around this time period I also introduced her to GHB. That was about 10/11 years ago. I stopped using speed and ghb shortly after this, and havent seen her since.
These days I am stable on suboxone but I do have an occasional slip (Idk 2-4 times a year maybe). Anyway a couple months ago I was visiting a friend out of town. At one point I found myself sauntering through a rougher part of town and find this same girl living in a tent. She is missing almost all of her teeth (she maybe had 15-20% remaining) and looked pretty malnourished. I stopped to talk to her for a while. I kind of assumed she had moved onto opioids like me and most of the people I know who did stimulants in their teens. I find out that she had never even tried an opioid, she has been smoking meth and doing GHB ever since I knew her a decade earlier. That was really hard for me to hear. I can't help but feel like I ruined this girls life.
I try to tell myself that she had a tough upbringing and would have turned to these drugs anyway ( she was a ward of the state and an alcoholic when we met)... but then I remember that she had never even tried anything harder... just the drugs that I introduced to her all these years ago. Maybe if I had never given her those drugs she wouldn't be living on the street now. Its like she trusted me because I was a friend... and I fucked her over. I've had other friends who have had a tough go with drugs.. they all seem to pull themselves out of it, that or die. But I've never felt so personally responsible. I've been thinking about it a lot and I cant stop the tears from welling in my eyes. I know I'm the bad guy here but I never really thought any further than " I had a positive experience with this substance and I want to share that with people close to me." I was only 17.
Anyway sorry for ranting. I tried to keep it as brief as possible. Has anyone else had a similar experience? do you feel guilty because of it? what are some of your coping mechanisms? Thank you.
I recently had an experience that has been really hard for me process.
Some quick context, I met a cute girl in my first year of high school that I became friends with. Skip ahead about 3 years and I was a recreational meth user. I knew this girl did coke so for her birthday I gave her a small amount of speed. I said something like " it feels like coke but lasts longer" and she put it straight up her nose. Sometime around this time period I also introduced her to GHB. That was about 10/11 years ago. I stopped using speed and ghb shortly after this, and havent seen her since.
These days I am stable on suboxone but I do have an occasional slip (Idk 2-4 times a year maybe). Anyway a couple months ago I was visiting a friend out of town. At one point I found myself sauntering through a rougher part of town and find this same girl living in a tent. She is missing almost all of her teeth (she maybe had 15-20% remaining) and looked pretty malnourished. I stopped to talk to her for a while. I kind of assumed she had moved onto opioids like me and most of the people I know who did stimulants in their teens. I find out that she had never even tried an opioid, she has been smoking meth and doing GHB ever since I knew her a decade earlier. That was really hard for me to hear. I can't help but feel like I ruined this girls life.
I try to tell myself that she had a tough upbringing and would have turned to these drugs anyway ( she was a ward of the state and an alcoholic when we met)... but then I remember that she had never even tried anything harder... just the drugs that I introduced to her all these years ago. Maybe if I had never given her those drugs she wouldn't be living on the street now. Its like she trusted me because I was a friend... and I fucked her over. I've had other friends who have had a tough go with drugs.. they all seem to pull themselves out of it, that or die. But I've never felt so personally responsible. I've been thinking about it a lot and I cant stop the tears from welling in my eyes. I know I'm the bad guy here but I never really thought any further than " I had a positive experience with this substance and I want to share that with people close to me." I was only 17.
Anyway sorry for ranting. I tried to keep it as brief as possible. Has anyone else had a similar experience? do you feel guilty because of it? what are some of your coping mechanisms? Thank you.