During April’s Anchorage Youth Speak Out event, Sage, talked about sneaking vodka from his parent and took three large shots on an empty stomach. It was the first time he’d gotten drunk. “Everything was spinning,” he said, “I honestly can’t even remember what happened after that.”
Despite the unpleasant first experience, Sage, now 18 years old, continued drinking alcohol at parties with his friends. Before long, he was introduced to marijuana and psychedelics. His use became so frequent that he was recently diagnosed with a unique disorder called Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD). “That means because of doing too many psychedelics before my brain has finished developing,” he explained, “I’m now in a lifelong trip.” Sharing his story, Sage offered hope to others experiencing addiction, “It won’t just go away. You’re always going to be an addict, but there’s treatment for it.”
Jacob, age 14, was next up to share his story, which he wrote down a presenter to share. His journey began with a friend introducing him to alcohol at a party, “My first drink was a Corona” Jacob shared, “and that’s pretty much what I stuck with throughout my drinking journey because hard liquor makes me rough and violent.” It was an intervention from his parents that led him to seek help. “I realized I needed to stop because my parents were worried about me.”
Our third youth speaker, JJ, age 14, recounted her experiences with alcohol with a sense of grit and wit. “I ended up running into some questionable people doing very questionable things,” she shared “And I guess I just felt left out and wanted to try.” In fact, drinking with her friends was one of her only motivations for going to school.
She now recounts the story with wisdom on peer pressure: “[When] I wasn’t feeling up to the shenanigan (drinking and smoking marijuana) they [would] always tell me to stop being ‘lame and boring’ and ‘just drink’ and if I didn’t, they [would threaten] to put me on the street or jump me. If they ‘shenan’ once, they’re gonna ‘shenan-again.’”
For JJ, the wakeup call came when intoxicated peer became violent and threatened to hurt her. Fortunately, she was able to remove herself from the situation and get home safely. Soon after, she reached out to get help for her drinking.
The final story came from a youth impacted by alcohol use before she was even born. Asher, age 18, who lives with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), shared her story in a pre-recorded video. In the video, Asher shares that due to her biological mother consuming alcohol while pregnant with her, Asher was born with a cleft palate and memory challenges, among other symptoms. With a promise made to herself to not drink, she, in her words, “slipped up” and drank on multiple occasions. However, her resilience proved greater than her mistakes. You can watch Asher’s full story here.
About ‘Anchorage Youth Speak Out’
Anchorage Youth Speak Out (AYSO) is a free public event that takes place quarterly and features story sharing from Alaskan youth. The event is offered both in-person and virtually via Zoom for anyone interested in attending. Dinner is provided and all attendees are eligible for a door prize drawing!
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