Drug and substance abuse has always been prevalent in my community, particularly amongst youth starting middle school and onto high school. From my own observations and conversations with peers who have used drugs, they’ve all expressed that they initially just wanted to try it out. Over time however, as their drug use became more frequent, I’ve seen that these activities no longer served as a way to create “thrilling” experiences for my peers, but it slowly became their predominant coping mechanism for their ongoing traumas and their feelings of stress, helplessness, despair, and/or loneliness.