I want to ask you guys a question think
about this while I’m giving my speech
and maybe take it with you after you
leave what have you been told about
addiction I’ll tell you what I was told
before a year and a half ago this was
all I knew
addiction was something I saw on posters
in my health class addiction was
something I heard about when talking
about abusive couples addiction was
something my health teachers would
plaster statistic after statistic on the
board about with no explanation
addiction was a word that was whispered
by my peers followed by the word rehab
addiction was shared how did because
talking about the realities of addiction
is socially unacceptable to me addiction
was just a word a word I used to justify
why I ate chocolate every day I decided
to find out what I was supposed to learn
because from what I remember all I was
supposed to learn about addiction was
about certain drugs and how they would
affect you I looked through my Google
Drive folder and all I found was two
presentations that I’d done in my health
class in middle school in sixth grade I
had done a recording with a good friend
of mine it was labeled OTC /dx em
exclamation point when I listened to it
I heard a sixth-grade girl giggling with
her best friend and making a joke about
how people would die from overdosing on
this drug because to us this drug was
relevant to us it was a problem that we
didn’t have
I found another presentation from eighth
grade it was about a drug opium when I
looked at the research I had done it was
just statistics about how often it was
used information about where to find
this drug how to make it why people
would use it to me teaching eighth
graders how to make a drug and where to
find it made no sense I don’t want to
stand up here and tell you guys about
addiction the way I was told about it
because if it’s anything like my
education it won’t make a difference
August 23rd 2016 that date will forever
be embedded in my mind a few weeks
before this I had learned that a good
friend of mine growing up had been
addicted to cocaine since they were 13 I
don’t know if anyone here is talked to a
13 year old lately but when I was 13 I
wore pigtails in my hair and a pink tutu
to school I had no clue what cocaine was
much less thought that my best friend
growing up the one who had built pillow
forts in my living room the one who had
pushed me to go on the hard run skiing I
had no clue they were addicted when I
found out I didn’t know what to do I
went to every single adult I trusted and
asked them what I was supposed to do
because up until that point I had no
clue what addiction was much less
thought it was in my community I decided
to confront my friend on their addiction
they finally told their parents but that
didn’t do much at first on August 23rd I
got a phone call
my friend had been caught in a parking
garage
with a few friends lighting something on
fire just for fun their car had been
searched and a drug that the police had
never seen before was found when I asked
what it was my friend just said they’d
refer to it by the name Wonderland or
better known now as pink on this day my
friend realized that they had truly hit
rock bottom
their parents found in an addiction
therapist for them to go to and they
started their journey to sobriety this
journey is not easy for them and in the
last year I’ve seen this I decided to
sit down with them and ask what I could
do to try and understand what they were
going through when I asked they told me
that it felt like their body was trying
to kill itself but their mind was trying
to survive when your body becomes so
dependent on a drug after you get
addicted you can’t function without it
because after receiving that drug after
giving their body cocaine for that long
it didn’t know how to continue
functioning without it my friend can’t
sleep or eat because every time they do
it feels like they’re going to vomit
I want you all to close your eyes
imagine being stuck underwater remember
that feeling you got when you were doing
a holding your breath underwater contest
with your friends or you were so
competitive that you couldn’t go up for
a breath of air remember that feeling of
your lungs screaming for you to go up
and get a breath but you can’t
my friend told me of that is what
addiction felt like I asked my friend
what I could do to help because I felt
helpless I asked them what we as a
community could do to help them they
told me to not give up on addicts not
give up on the ones who want to recover
because the ones who reach out the ones
who start going to rehab who start going
to therapy
the ones who finally tell you are the
ones who want to recover stop
stereotyping addicts they’re not always
gonna be that guy in the back alley with
a knife sticking out of his boot in a
brown paper bag who screams if you look
at them or that person them in that
white van who’s trying to sell you candy
because they’re normal people the girl
you sit next to in math class the guy
you passed in the bus the cashier at
your favorite restaurant I don’t know if
anyone here has ever known an addict or
had a relationship with one but let me
tell you from my experience it’s not
easy there’s no so you just found out
your best friend is an addict
101 class there’s no what to do when
your friend just told you that they’re
addicted to cocaine look because this
isn’t something that everyone faces
every day every day since the day I
found out that my best friend was
addicted I worry what if they relapse
what if they transferred their addiction
what if they couldn’t take it anymore
and with that worrying comes anger why
didn’t I know
why didn’t they tell me why didn’t every
person who know knew before me
tell me ever since I found out the lies
have come out Heidi I’m going straight
home don’t worry I was just out to
dinner with my parents I’m home in bed
despite all of this the worrying the
lies the anger I still choose to love my
best friend everyday because even if the
whole world tells them that they failed
that they can’t recover that they can’t
come back from this I won’t
I will hold their hand every single step
of recovery because ever since the day
that they started to get sober
they laughed like they used to they
smile without their eyes being clouded I
can go to the park with them without
worrying about them going off and
smoking I was finally able to look past
the addict in front of me and I found my
best friend again thank you
[Applause]
about this while I’m giving my speech
and maybe take it with you after you
leave what have you been told about
addiction I’ll tell you what I was told
before a year and a half ago this was
all I knew
addiction was something I saw on posters
in my health class addiction was
something I heard about when talking
about abusive couples addiction was
something my health teachers would
plaster statistic after statistic on the
board about with no explanation
addiction was a word that was whispered
by my peers followed by the word rehab
addiction was shared how did because
talking about the realities of addiction
is socially unacceptable to me addiction
was just a word a word I used to justify
why I ate chocolate every day I decided
to find out what I was supposed to learn
because from what I remember all I was
supposed to learn about addiction was
about certain drugs and how they would
affect you I looked through my Google
Drive folder and all I found was two
presentations that I’d done in my health
class in middle school in sixth grade I
had done a recording with a good friend
of mine it was labeled OTC /dx em
exclamation point when I listened to it
I heard a sixth-grade girl giggling with
her best friend and making a joke about
how people would die from overdosing on
this drug because to us this drug was
relevant to us it was a problem that we
didn’t have
I found another presentation from eighth
grade it was about a drug opium when I
looked at the research I had done it was
just statistics about how often it was
used information about where to find
this drug how to make it why people
would use it to me teaching eighth
graders how to make a drug and where to
find it made no sense I don’t want to
stand up here and tell you guys about
addiction the way I was told about it
because if it’s anything like my
education it won’t make a difference
August 23rd 2016 that date will forever
be embedded in my mind a few weeks
before this I had learned that a good
friend of mine growing up had been
addicted to cocaine since they were 13 I
don’t know if anyone here is talked to a
13 year old lately but when I was 13 I
wore pigtails in my hair and a pink tutu
to school I had no clue what cocaine was
much less thought that my best friend
growing up the one who had built pillow
forts in my living room the one who had
pushed me to go on the hard run skiing I
had no clue they were addicted when I
found out I didn’t know what to do I
went to every single adult I trusted and
asked them what I was supposed to do
because up until that point I had no
clue what addiction was much less
thought it was in my community I decided
to confront my friend on their addiction
they finally told their parents but that
didn’t do much at first on August 23rd I
got a phone call
my friend had been caught in a parking
garage
with a few friends lighting something on
fire just for fun their car had been
searched and a drug that the police had
never seen before was found when I asked
what it was my friend just said they’d
refer to it by the name Wonderland or
better known now as pink on this day my
friend realized that they had truly hit
rock bottom
their parents found in an addiction
therapist for them to go to and they
started their journey to sobriety this
journey is not easy for them and in the
last year I’ve seen this I decided to
sit down with them and ask what I could
do to try and understand what they were
going through when I asked they told me
that it felt like their body was trying
to kill itself but their mind was trying
to survive when your body becomes so
dependent on a drug after you get
addicted you can’t function without it
because after receiving that drug after
giving their body cocaine for that long
it didn’t know how to continue
functioning without it my friend can’t
sleep or eat because every time they do
it feels like they’re going to vomit
I want you all to close your eyes
imagine being stuck underwater remember
that feeling you got when you were doing
a holding your breath underwater contest
with your friends or you were so
competitive that you couldn’t go up for
a breath of air remember that feeling of
your lungs screaming for you to go up
and get a breath but you can’t
my friend told me of that is what
addiction felt like I asked my friend
what I could do to help because I felt
helpless I asked them what we as a
community could do to help them they
told me to not give up on addicts not
give up on the ones who want to recover
because the ones who reach out the ones
who start going to rehab who start going
to therapy
the ones who finally tell you are the
ones who want to recover stop
stereotyping addicts they’re not always
gonna be that guy in the back alley with
a knife sticking out of his boot in a
brown paper bag who screams if you look
at them or that person them in that
white van who’s trying to sell you candy
because they’re normal people the girl
you sit next to in math class the guy
you passed in the bus the cashier at
your favorite restaurant I don’t know if
anyone here has ever known an addict or
had a relationship with one but let me
tell you from my experience it’s not
easy there’s no so you just found out
your best friend is an addict
101 class there’s no what to do when
your friend just told you that they’re
addicted to cocaine look because this
isn’t something that everyone faces
every day every day since the day I
found out that my best friend was
addicted I worry what if they relapse
what if they transferred their addiction
what if they couldn’t take it anymore
and with that worrying comes anger why
didn’t I know
why didn’t they tell me why didn’t every
person who know knew before me
tell me ever since I found out the lies
have come out Heidi I’m going straight
home don’t worry I was just out to
dinner with my parents I’m home in bed
despite all of this the worrying the
lies the anger I still choose to love my
best friend everyday because even if the
whole world tells them that they failed
that they can’t recover that they can’t
come back from this I won’t
I will hold their hand every single step
of recovery because ever since the day
that they started to get sober
they laughed like they used to they
smile without their eyes being clouded I
can go to the park with them without
worrying about them going off and
smoking I was finally able to look past
the addict in front of me and I found my
best friend again thank you
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: