I started taking drugs at 13

When Lizzie started taking drugs at 13 it felt totally normal. It wasn't until she hit rock bottom that she realised things had to change.

True Stories

"I took my first pill before I was even fourteen."

I was 13 when I started taking drugs. My parents have always been quite strict and anti-drugs, but I wasn’t really rebelling against that. I always promised myself I wouldn’t get into drugs, but I just got more curious as I got older.

Around the time I started taking drugs, I got together with a guy who was 18. When I look back now I can’t believe how young I was – I was forced to grow up quite quickly. My mates in that gang ranged from 17 to 26, so I was always the youngest. They were all taking drugs and having a great time on them. It made me curious and wonder what it would be like. My mates were taking lots of pills in one night, so how could one harm me? At first they were very against me taking drugs and very protective – they really looked out for me, but slowly they started giving in.

My first pill

My first experience on a pill was quite bad. My friends made me take a half to start with, but it didn’t seem to be doing anything so I took the other half without telling them. When we got to a mate’s house I got handed another one and took it whole as well. No one realised I’d taken it and I ended up coming up on both pills at the same time.

I usually get quite hyperactive on sugar, but this was 10 times worse. It felt like I’d just eaten a whole bowl of sugar, I had so much energy. I couldn’t stop running around. I was speaking so fast no one could understand me. My boyfriend was really worried because I kept running off. I nearly jumped in the water, which could have been really dangerous, but luckily someone held me back. I went into a comedown and started to feel sick and moody and horrible. But I just put all that to the back of my head and kept thinking about the amazing buzz I’d had.

Getting hooked

After that no one wanted me touching pills again but I started flipping out, saying, “It’s my life, I can do what I want.” So I started taking more pills and got addicted to them. There’s just nothing else for people to do around here – we can’t go anywhere so we’d take pills and drink and spend hours trekking about the streets.

A couple of months later I was getting bored of pills as they weren’t affecting me in the same way, so I started to take phet too. I even started sniffing petrol at one point. All the drugs started to give me insomnia and then I couldn’t be bothered to go to school in the morning because I’d been awake until 6am. So I started to skip school and my work really began to suffer.

Relationship breakdown

My boyfriend was really supportive at first and we had a lovely relationship. But he started smoking weed more and more. We promised we’d quit drugs together and we did for a while – we came off everything. It was great for a while but then he started getting moody and smoking weed again and started to ignore me and push me aside. That caused loads of arguments and we broke up. I found out he’d cheated on me while we’d been together and it really broke my heart.

We ended up going backwards and forwards, breaking up and getting back together. Then we started taking drugs again and he even started dealing – the whole situation got really bad. He’d gone from being the perfect boyfriend to someone who just didn’t want me around. It really messed my head up. I got to the stage where I stopped eating because of the stress of the relationship. I lost loads of weight but couldn’t even see it myself.

Hitting rock bottom and bouncing back

I was on drugs, I wasn’t eating, I was in a relationship with someone who didn’t care about me and all my mates had given up on me – I’d hit rock bottom. I finally realised it wasn’t worth it. Something just clicked in my head and I’d had enough, so I finished it.

I got back with my original friends from school and they helped me start eating again. They’d drag me out on nights out but wouldn’t let me take drugs. It felt reassuring to have their support after what I’d been through. I’d lost all my self confidence while I was with my boyfriend so they helped me get it back.

I’ve cut drugs out of my life for the past seven months and I’m so glad about it. When I was taking drugs I became a real bitch, I didn’t care about anything apart from drugs. I was so stupid and gave so much up for a boy. I nearly lost my best friends and when I look back I think, “What was I playing at?”

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