Recently in The 21st Century, I read a letter to the editor saying that there weren't enough articles on drugs. So, I am writing one.

When I was a freshman I remember a friend coming to school high every day. When the teachers asked her what was wrong, she would answer that she did not get enough sleep or something to that effect.

She used to take money from everyone and was in debt to all her friends and even her parents. How much? About five thousand dollars. She was doing very badly in school and she was lying, saying that her parents told her that homework was not important.

She fainted one day in school and the teachers noticed a trickle of thick blood coming from her nose. Usually when someone gets a nosebleed, it is thin and a lot. But hers was just one trickle and the blood looked almost black.That is when the teachers began to realize that she had a serious problem.

My friend did not begin drugs because she had problems at home, or because her long-time boyfriend had dumped her. Her reason to start drugs was to be part of the "in" crowd. Yes, she got in all right.

Her parents put her in rehab, and she recovered after a year. The day after she got out, she met the same friends who had introduced her to drugs.

She had an overdose and died the next morning. She never thought she would ever die of an overdose. She thought she was under control. "I know how to control myself. I know when to stop." I still remember these words. Unfortunately she did not follow them.

My friend was not a bad person. If you did not know what was going on, you would think she was really popular, had everything going for her and had nice friends. Sure she had nice friends ... they killed her. n