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I smoked pot off and on for several years. It depended on whether the friends I was with had some or not. I never bought any... somebody else always had it. I knew people who felt like they needed it to relax them. I didn't feel like it was a need, but I never passed up the chance, either. Then, at some point, I finally relaized I had to deal with my own crap in life. Yes, I could smoke a joint and do the mental floating thing for a while, but my problems would still be here later. It was better to just go ahead and handle my business. A friend offered a joint to me one night and I said, "No thanks." She looked like she didn't quite believe I was saying no, but I told her I was sure. She asked, "Do I need to put it out?" I told her she could go ahead, I wasn't jumping on the "Drugs are Evil" bandwagon or judging her, I just didn't want to smoke. She pretty much spread the word that I wasn't smoking, but I wasn't judging anybody else for it. Nobody offered, nobody teased... it just wasn't an issue.

Recently, I gave up smoking cigarettes... again. I've tried three times before. Supposedly, it's easier for heroin addicts to give up heroin than cigarette smokes to give up cigarettes. Some scientists think the two may actually work in a similar manner on the brain. I think it's going much better this time, though. I'm not having cravings. My mom runs a business with my dad's cousin, and I notice the smell when the cousin is smoking when I'm there. It just kind of registers as a new smell... one that wasn't there a minute ago. I don't find myself sniffing the air and wishing I could light one of my own. I still want one after a meal or when I wake up, but not as badly as I did the other times I tried to quit. I think I may actually make it this time.

My mom said that when she and my dad were teenagers they would "experiment" xd

i think every generation is gonna have people experimenting. i mean. you have parents nowadays who still drink and do drugs. so their kids grow up doing the same thing. then you have the young parents who are raising their kids, while being kids themselves, drinking and doing drugs. it's just something that from the looks of it is always gonna be there.