8 Chapter 8: Getting High

Cavite City is a hotbed for drugs. It's way cheaper here compared to Manila. A Hundred bucks worth of drugs there is equavalent to 300 bucks in Manila. And it is much safer to buy there. Police is not roaming the area as often as they should have, and drug personalities are having a blast. When we moved there, I have no clue on the situation and meeting with stoners were the last thing on my mind. The environment there were like in a regular province. Peaceful, great scenery, and people there are also friendly, with a big change in accent, literally, compared to Bulacan. Because of my love with basketball, I played on the village without knowing anyone. Well, as days passed by, I met some new friends and they were quite "friendly". Very friendly actually.

Having new friends are always good, especially when you are in a new place and environment. And eventhough you are completely aware of your surroundings, you'll still dont know if those people are good influence or not. I thought I was with good company.

With my new friends in tow, we always hang out on my house everytime my mom is at work. And one day, one of my friends brought drugs since they dont have a place to burn that thing. I wanted to say no, get that thing out of here, but I failed to do so. Its been a while since I last tried it so when they asked me if I want some, I just said "sure bro". We have a band rehearsal later that day and when we jammed, it felt good. Really really good. I enjoyed playing rock and roll being high. I feel it enhanced my musicality, I felt it made me more confident and creative. I can npw write my own songs. It started only like 3 times a month for me, and when college started, with regular gigs coming also, it became a habit.

Back to my high school reunion, I opened up that topic and thankfully, most of them were also done with drugs. According to them, a couple of guys are still engaged with it and the last time they heard was it really destroyed those guys. Of course those guys were not present here and the guys said that one of those people mentioned owed them a lot of money. It really destroyed their friendships and lives as well. I hate to admit it but it destroyed me as well.

Because of drugs, I was even more wild now. I only lasted 1 semester in UP and went to Lyceum. 2 years into college, I dont go to class anymore, I dropped all of my subjects and failed all of them. Mom is getting mad each semester, and she's beggining to suspect my wrong doings. My relatives in the province were also beggining to be mad at me and they were actually been told by my mom of what is happening to me. Since they already have a hunch of my drug problem, money became scarce. Suddenly, I have no money to buy drugs and so, I have to do something, right?