The start of alcoholism and stupidity

When I was 18 I was a hardcore stoner, spending good portions of my paycheck on pot. For a good percentage of the next 3 yrs, I was perpetually stoned. During this time I drank, but not so frequently.

When I hit 21 it stayed this way until I got a DUI. I played it save for awhile, but then the flood gates opened at 22. While living in florida in a vacation home with 11 other guys there was always someone down to smoke, drink or snort coke. My drug of choice by this time was XTC. Even this didn’t prepare me for what was to come as it became more of a downward spiral year by year.

At 23, I was rolling with a crew that loved to drink. They corrupted me in that aspect. I corrupted them with XTC. Frequency at the bars became 3, 4 or 5 times a week. On top of this cocaine was flowing. During this time it became habitual that my friend Mark and I would each spend easily $400 to $600 a week on getting drunk at the bars. We were young, invincible and nothing was going to stop us.

Eventually this lifestyle caught up with me on a typical night in November. For some reason, I didn’t want to go out. I just didn’t feel it and it was like my gut was telling me not to. Maybe it was intuition. Maybe it was the fact that I got into a fight with a security guard the night before at a bar. Maybe it was both. Ultimately I went out to shut my buddy Mark up.

We started up at what was once Bamboo Room after getting a great buzz on we shot over to coach house to finish up the night due to it being the after hours spot. It was here where the liquor kept flowing and I got trashed. By the end of the night I was high on life due to getting a bunch of girl’s numbers and making out with a bunch too. Mark offered to drive, but I turned him down.

The drive started off very typical. I went into standard drunk defensive driving mode. By the time we were a few miles from our apartment I missed my turn. At the next light I decided to make a left. Right at this moment something came over me. Maybe it was the feeling of invincibility, maybe it was not wanting to get home a few minutes later, but next thing I knew I was flying through a suburban neighborhood doing 100 miles an hour. Everything was fine in my mind as I took curves, flew past trees and got out of the neighborhood. I made a right and got stuck at a red light. I thought about blowing it, but decided to wait. The light turned green and I proceeded at the normal speed.

Within a minute and a half I got pulled over for my stunt in the neighborhood. Due to being intoxicated I walked right into the officer’s trap and gave him probable cause to write me a ticket. This led into a field sobriety and I earned myself DUI # 2.