Lauren – Interview 09
Lauren used to binge drink every weekend with friends as a teenager. Now she drinks with friends a few times a month but not to get drunk. She has realised that alcohol and cannabis don’t solve problems.
The first time Lauren drank alcohol was at a friends house. She decided to join in because she wanted to feel part of the group. She has found that different types of alcohol affect her differently. Cider made her sick, wine sleepy and relaxed and vodka depressed and violent. On one occasion she got into a fight with someone and the police gave her a caution and sent a letter to her parents. Lauren didn’t talk to her parents much and they didn’t know that she was drinking but both parents used to talk to her about alcohol and its consequences. They felt very disappointed when she got into trouble with the police and she felt disappointed in herself and for letting her parents down.
Since she started drinking, age fourteen, she used to drink every weekend and described her drinking as bingeing’. She also started to smoke cannabis at fifteen. She says that it’s very easy when you are with a group of friends to do what they are doing. Now she only drinks a few times a month, when out with her friends. She drinks lager but not necessarily to get drunk. She no longer smokes cannabis. Her attitude has changed and says she has learned a lot from the experiences of other young people around her. She has one friend that has become an alcoholic andothers that have been kicked out of college andtheir family home; another had unprotected sex and became pregnant and had an abortion.
Lauren has come to realisethatalcohol andcannabis can’t help solve problems or stop people feeling sad. She used to drink when she wasstressed about college or upset with relationships. She said that alcohol helped her forget her problems for a while but that they were still there the next morning when she sobered up. She has found that talking to her friends helps her cope better when she feels down. her message to otheryoung people isnot to shut yourself away’ and to keep busy.