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Up in Smoke: Drugs in Urban Communities
"I wish more kids understood the truth about what happens to themselves and their community when they take drugs."
By LaQuan Roker
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Youth Radio's LaQuan Roker questions the role of drugs in his neighborhood, and wonders why youth take substances that have the ability to destroy their bodies and communities. He warns other young people his age not to follow the path carved out by older drug users and sellers in urban areas, so they can avoid jail and other negative affects of substance abuse.
I can’t speak about drugs first hand, because I don’t take them and neither do my close friends. But I know all about them. I can’t avoid it. I live in an urban area, or should I say “the hood.”
Growing up in that environment, kids like me are influenced by drugs, whether they take them or are just surrounded by them.
Drug culture forces a lot of decisions at an early age. I have younger cousins who are basically in the neighborhood where this illegal activity goes on. I always tell them, “Don’t follow in anyone else’s footsteps.”
There hasn’t been anyone to teach me about the dangers, but I’ve seen kids my age hooked on marijuana. They continue to sell or smoke it at the same time. This is outrageous!
And I hate that me and my friends are always surrounded by violence and chaos because of drug culture. I wish more kids understood the truth about what happens to themselves, and their community, when they take drugs.
Life is too short. Don’t end up like the other victims because they are either dead or behind bars.
- Youth Radio Atlanta is produced in cooperation with WABE and funded in part by The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.
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