Drugs & My World

I caught this article not too long ago online.

It's funny that lawyers have some very high rates of alcoholism and depression compared to other professions, yet it seems drug use is implicitly encouraged. I read plenty of stories in online lawyer communities about lawyers taking speed to function in major law firms in big cities such as NYC; even "Mr. Belvedere", a sitcom from the '80s, did an episode on it. Certainly drug use is rampant in Hollywood & the entertainment industry.

You'd think that among all this, I'd be a drug addict myself. You'd be dead wrong, however. I happen to be 100%, completely drug free. No alcohol, no illegal drugs, not even prescription medication to alter my personality. There's a few reasons for this:

1. Living with an alcoholic who also did pot-- When your parents are doing something, the appeal to do it yourself just isn't there. One time, my father was actually drinking with an older kid in our neighborhood (who happened to be underage).

2. Being from the old school-- I didn't grow up in the era of ADD diagnosis & taking prescription drugs to make you happy. We'd be more likely to talk to a therapist & solve problems w/out using drugs.

3. Liking who I am-- I feel like taking drugs would make me into a more sane, "normal" & boring person. Who wants to be MORE normal? I didn't even like taking prescriptions after surgery & dental work since I felt being dependent on drugs would zap my creative energy + take away who I am as a person.

Now, I'm not some judgmental harpy. If you can function while taking drugs & I don't know about it, that's your business. Your life, your body.

Just don't let me see you do it & don't have illegal substances in my presence. Unless you're planning to pay all my school loans & debt if you get arrested for drug possession, I'm not going down w/you on that.

Oh, and don't act like my father. I still don't have a 100%, a-okay relationship w/the man & I don't see that changing w/out serious change on his part. I'm not going to relive my childhood & my husband knows that if he did any of that stuff, it would be a deal breaker. I dated guys who drank but I'd have never seriously considered a future w/them since I figure I'd have ended up pressured to drink all the time and planning a wedding would be a pain on that issue.

Basically, I figure no one will get me to do any type of substance unless I have a terminal illness/disease & I'm going to be dead in a few weeks or something. I refuse to give my father the satisfaction of ending up like him (he point blank told me I'd end up like him someday).

For the record I'm also not the only non-drinking, sober person in the legal or entertainment industry, all right? Just don't call me "straight edge" since I hate that term & have some life experience, thanks.