In the past 17 years, I haven’t known how addicting any kind of drug could be or how it could affect the people around you. But since the beginning of 2018, I’ve lost three people one drug: heroin.

I’ve been around many addicts, whether that’s my intermediate family, co-workers or close friends. Heroin, or any drug, can be life changing—it’ll make you want more. It can also make you do anything for it.

For those like me who have people in their lives who struggle with drug use, there is a program to help. Drug court is a program that individuals go through to beat addiction. Sometimes this program is successful and sometimes it is not, and that’s the sad reality of it. Drug court can reduce the use of any kind of drug, it can reduce crime and it can help put families back together.

A little over three weeks ago, I lost a close friend who went through this same exact program. She was full of life, a trained nurse and a hard worker. She did everything in her power to get better and she did. On Feb. 15, she graduated from the program. After a long time of withdrawals, blood, sweat and tears, she graduated. However, several hours after she graduated, she overdosed.

Watching someone go through drug court is an emotional rollercoaster. It will make you want to give up on all the success you made. It makes you cry, it makes you do all sorts of things.

Many people can’t explain how or why others can become addicted to drugs. Most people think that people who use drugs are lacking the willpower to say no. In reality, people are just bad at peer pressuring. Almost all addicts that I’ve come across in my lifetime say they started because they were at a party or their friends were doing it.

If you were to think about it, the average high school class has about 25 students in it, and according to the NCADA, one out of every seven Americans will face substance abuse in their lifetime. That is at least three people in that single class that could be struggling with an addiction, have struggled with it or will struggle with it. The only way to make a change and decrease the number is to get help before it becomes a problem.

There are several ways to help you break any kind of addiction. The first way is to realize you have a problem and decide how you’re going to fix it. Whether that’s going to rehab or going to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. Another way is to make a daily change in your life. Set a goal for that particular day to accomplish as it’s more likely for goals to be forgotten about if you set them weekly or monthly.

The only way to steer clear of addiction is to stop it before it starts.