"Hi, my name is Samantha. When I was 13 years old, I started smoking weed. At the beginning it was just when socialising with friends then it became an addiction, to the point where me and friends would put our money together to buy some weed. The dependency on weed got so bad that I would steal and sell things just to feed my addiction.
When I was 14, I started to hang around with drug dealers who sold crack cocaine and heroin. I can remember the first time I took crack. I thought I was going to die. It made me so paranoid. At this point I started to sell drugs to feed my habit. Eventually I stopped smoking crack cocaine at 15 years old, but I still continued to smoked weed. The reason I stopped smoking crack was because I left the circle of friends I was with at the time and I knew it was causing a lot of problems at home.
When I became pregnant at 16, I couldn't smoke weed a lot but now again during my pregnancy I would smoke weed. After the baby was born I went back to smoking weed heavily and continue to do so until I was 22.
At 17 years old, I became so depressed; my doctor prescribed me with anti-depressants. I became dependant on them for 9 years until I was 26 years old. It was only when I was pregnant with my third child did I decide to stop smoking weed completely. I was determined to be a good mother and not to be controlled by drugs anymore. The will power I had drove me to stick to my decision, though it was very difficult at the beginning.
The lifestyle I live now is completely different to the one I had as a teenager and in my early twenties. I am living a clean healthy lifestyle free from drugs. I have been able to rebuild my life and now I am at college, training to become a professional chef. For me to get to where I am now was not easy.
As a result of my drug abuse, I left school without an education and had to start all over again as an adult so I could make something of my life. I spent more time high on drugs then I did in class and as a result, my memory became so bad. Even today, my memory is not so great and at times I find it hard to remember everything I am supposed to do that is important and it has affected my concentration skills. This is a bad side effect and consequence of taking drugs".
