I am not your typical drug addict. Before the accident, I had never taken drugs of any kind. I had never even had a sip of alcohol. But here I am today; a full blown addict. My drug of choice? All of them. Oxy, hydros, Percocet, Xanax, Ativan, and occasionally heroin when I can’t get my pill fix. Now I have to get clean but not for the reasons you may think. 

Seven months ago I was half way through my senior year of high school. I couldn’t wait to get to college so I could finally have the life my parents could never afford. I don’t remember a time in my life that we weren’t on welfare. I was on my way to school when a mini-van ran a red light and t-boned me. I spent two months in the hospital, then sent home with a prescription for Percocet. Pretty soon they weren’t enough. I tried heroin for the first time on my seventeenth birthday and it was fucking amazing. The second time I tried heroine my mom found me unconscious in my bedroom with the needle still in my arm. I was sent straight to rehab from the hospital. On the sixth day in rehab, I was called into a meeting with the director. 

“Good afternoon, Daniel. My name is Quinn Faulkner,” He said as he stretched an unnaturally large grin over his face. “Do you know why you’re here?” 

“I’m pretty sure it’s because I’m a drug addict,” I said in a monotone voice. This guy was already pissing me off. 

“That is correct, Daniel. May I call you Daniel?” His lips curled around a row of large teeth but his obsidian eyes were lifeless. 

“I wanted to go over the terms of your stay with us, Daniel. It is vital that you listen carefully at what I am about to tell you.” 

“The sooner we get this shit over with the better.” I scowled. 

“Very well. Because you are on welfare, we are required by law to enforced certain, shall we say, rules.” He sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers over his chest. His Cheshire grin was gone now. Replaced with something so sinister, it made every hair on my body stand on end. 

“Okay. And?”

“You have thirty days starting today to get clean and stay clean. At the end of the thirty days, you will be drug tested. If you fail the drug test, we will eliminate your mother, father, and sister.” I stared at him blankly for what felt like ten minutes and then burst into an hysterical fit of laughter. When I realized he wasn’t laughing with me, I swallowed back the bile that threatened to choke me. 

“You can’t be serious. What do you mean eliminate? You mean? You can’t do that to people. This is fucking America!” I screamed. 

“On the contrary, Daniel. We can and we will,” he pulled out a folder and said, “Your parents have already agreed to the terms. Here are their signatures.”

My heart pounded against my ribcage. “Then I’ll just fucking leave! You can’t make me stay here!” 

“Make no mistake, Daniel, this is real and this is happening. The war on drugs is going to be won in this great country, even if it means eliminating the problem. You are the problem, Daniel. You and freeloading, mooching families like yours.”