Hannah Greer
Hannah Greer, 16, Pope High School
“I was clean for nine months until this month, when I slipped up and drank some whiskey. I’ve been to jail four times. My drug of choice, it’s embarrassing to say, was cocaine. Finally, it hit me that if I could go without it in jail, I could go without it at home.
“My resolution is not to go backwards at all next year. I had done so good with staying out of trouble for nine months and I’m not really sure what happened. But I poured some whiskey into a water bottle and my parents found it the next day and I went back to lockup.
“This coming year, I’m going to focus on schoolwork and stop trying to be cool. I can be lame; that’s OK. I like hanging out with my dog and watching Sponge Bob with my brother. I’ve said I was done with drugs before. But now, seeing how far I’d come and how proud people were of me, I don’t want to go back to where we started and let everyone down.”
Hello Hannah. In one month, I’m giving an inspirational speech to young people in drug court here in Maryland. I stumbled on this site and read your story. I see you wrote your resolutions a year ago. Now that we are in a new year, I found myself wondering how you are doing – you and the other 4 young people on this site. You all look so full of hope and promise. The one thing that really touched me about your stories is the reality of relapse and that even though it happens, it’s so important to get back up on your feet again. I hope that 2012 was a success for you. If you have a minute, I would love to hear an update.