I am a recovering coke addict.

I started taking coke at a year 9 social when my boyfriend gave me some while we were dancing. I inhaled it in the bathroom and never looked back. That was the best night of my life! I was so happy and dancing with everyone. A few minutes later i went back to inhale some more and gave the rest to Lucy (name changed), my best friend.

When i got home my mom saw there was something different but i went to sleep too early for her to realise. The next day, i felt so low that i wanted to kill myself. I asked my boyfriend for more when i visited his house a week later for some more but he lied and told me that he had run out. I checked his room and found some though, and some rocks of crack, and hid them in my jumper before briskly exiting.

I couldn't wait any longer, so i walked 2 kms to Lucy's house (her parents weren't home) and we inhaled some more. She told me that crack was smoked and we smoked most of that too. After that wonderful half hour, i gave her half of the remaining drugs and took the rest. I hid them in my old leather boots underneath my bed.

My boyfriend found out that I had stolen his stash and broke up with me. I was devastated, not 'cause of him, but i was worried about the fact i wouldn't be able to take more coke, which i had run out of. Lucy was thinking the same.

Then, I met Chris (name changed). Well, Lucy did. They were going out for a while when she told me he was a coke and crack dealer. He gave me heaps of grams free and i was living in heaven, high as a bird and free as a bee.

That was the year i dropped out of year 11. I got a job at hungry jacks to make money for the coke, telling my mother that school was just too hard and i couldn't take it anymore. This was when she began to suspect--- after all, i was a straight A student. I had received academic honours since year 5 and was en route to studying overseas.

Anyway, mom began searching my room, checking my facebook and listening in on my phone calls. She gave me an earlier curfew and drove me to work instead of me walking. I smirked inwardly, thinking she wouldn't find anything, until my 17th birthday, a year and a half after i dropped out. Mom found 5 sacks of white powder and a huge rock of crack in my underwear drawer, and she cried until her eyes were bulging and red. She didn't tell dad until a month after. He nearly killed me.

I slept over at Lucy's for a week. When i walked home, dad was drinking a beer and watching the footy on the telly. I snuck up to my room and looked under the bed. The stash was still there. I took a bag of the powder and mixed it with water. I then injected it. Thinking back, it was my biggest regret.

The next day, i received the news that Lucy had died. It was like having a scorpion thrown at your face; it hurt so bad. I cried and cried and cried and thinking about it now makes tears run down my cheeks. She had overdosed died of a heart attack. Chris ran away, never to be seen again.

That was when i quit. I burnt all the drugs and checked into rehab. It was hard being sober, and once in a while i would light up a joint or take ecstasy pills, but i have been completely sober for 2 months and am currently going out with the love of my life.

The main message: Don't take drugs---they will RUIN your life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the lives of those around you.