Today, from the “depressing-as-hell” news files, we bring you this story from The New York Daily News of an 18-year-old boy from Shalimar, Florida who got stopped by police for a traffic and safety violation while he was driving a scooter. The cop watched the clearly freaked kid shove something in his mouth as a plastic bag fell to his feet. The stuff he oh so desperately rushed into his mouth? Weed, of course.
An Honest Confession
The deputy asked to see the kid’s tongue and spotted marijuana bits on it, cuffed the teenager and brought him in. When asked why he went to such great lengths to hide the evidence—it wasn’t crack, you know?—the boy uttered what might be the saddest and most relatable excuse-to-get-fucked-up ever said ever: “I have a depressing life and want to get high.”
Sigh. Don’t we all?
The guy also explained that he was currently “on probation and did not want to get caught ’cause I seriously want to finish school and have a future and a job. I keep getting (expletive withheld) over and over that little bit of weed.”
It’s the Logic That’s Sad
This story isn’t just sad because of the arrest itself or even the fact that a teenager might have just messed up a bright future via a stupid pot possession arrest. The saddest element—to me, anyway—is the kid’s twisted reasoning for getting high. Like, don’t addicts always find a reason to get messed up—a reason that getting high sounds logical, sensible and awesome? Of course it sounds good, like a perfect escape from all our issues, fears, struggles and the grinding everyday rigamarole.
But to me what makes this story even worse is that it doesn’t sound like this kid truly did want to get stoned; he wanted to meet his long-term goals of finishing school and landing a job and a future. But something inside him compelled him to get high anyway. Getting high seemed like the simplest escape route from his “depressing life,” so he took it, goals and future be damned. Sounds familiar.
I won’t go so far as to declare the kid an addict; it’s none of my business and that’s something personal he’ll have to do himself, if it feels right to him—but I’ll bet his line of thinking sure sounds familiar to tons of addicts and alcoholics out there who know what it’s like to use any excuse to check out. As pot becomes increasingly accepted and acceptable as a solution to society in pain, it’s perhaps worth remembering that some—I’d venture to say a great many—are using it because they have depressing lives and “just want to get high.”
Sponsored DISCLAIMER: This is a paid advertisement for California Behavioral Health, LLC, a CA licensed substance abuse treatment provider and not a service provided by The Fix. Calls to this number are answered by CBH, free and without obligation to the consumer. No one who answers the call receives a fee based upon the consumer’s choice to enter treatment. For additional info on other treatment providers and options visit www.samhsa.gov.
