Three friends I met working my first job at Mcdonalds were really good guys. We all went to the local high school and they were basically just normal teenagers looking laughing through school.
One guy started selling very small amounts of powder heroin for his uncle who was a bigger player. This uncle was the black sheep of the family as everyone was aware of his shadiness but my friend saw it as an opportunity to make some quick side cash to buy his first car.
He sold the drugs for about 3 months and then started bring them to work and school. He then started doing them in front of us and convinced us that snorting them would only make you feel drunk without the addictive effects of shooting it up. We 4 started doing them at work and school in small amounts in what seemed like harmless teenage shinanigans. He bought his first car a very used convertible mustang and we started crusing around after work and doing more drugs and stopping at wild parties and having a ball. I saw the drugs start to change everyones mentality. Soon it became about more money, more drugs, more partying. I distanced myself from the other 3 guys when I realized it was spiraling out of control. I got very sick from the drugs and going cold turkey off of them made me physically ill.
They came by my house a month later to convince me to go out partying with them but I declined. I saw the path it was shaping and wanted no more of it.
I didn't see them at school the next day and figured they had another fun, wild night. Showed up for work that evening and it was closed. Called the manager he said that my friends, my brilliant 3 friends, robbed the Mcdonalds the night before at gunpoint. Including the customers. They came in with ski masks, high out of their minds and for what ever reason decided to rob the same Mcdonalds that they worked.
It was really a shock. No one was hurt but all three were charged and did hard time. I feel very guilty to this day for thinking so selfishly at the time and not trying to pull them out with me. I also now understand how greatly drugs can impact a perfectly stable, sincere, and overall good hearted person. These kids, if it wasn't for one silver tounged uncle, may have had normal and productive lives. I have a teen of my own now and I am constantly told that I am too over protective with him and who he hangs around. I know I am, but I figure if I couldn't save those guys back then the least I can do is save my own kid.