I hadn鈥檛 slept for two days. I hadn鈥檛 eaten for two days. I had no friends to turn to and my mum didn鈥檛 trust me.
I鈥檓 Jade. I would say I鈥檓 pretty much of a tomboy. I like sitting down and playing a bit of Xbox. I love riding out on my moped.
I grew up with my mum and er, my dad wasn鈥檛 around and she鈥檚 been my idol since I was a little girl.
I met my first boyfriend through a friend that I made at school. A couple of months down the line he revealed to me that he actually did smoke cannabis. And I told him I didn鈥檛 want to know about it and he wasn鈥檛 to do it around me. And, erm, then one day he brought it to my house and said that, you know, I鈥檝e got to try it before I judge. I thought that quite a lot of the people in the years above me were, at least 50% were all doing it. So I trusted him and I said, yeah OK then I鈥檒l give it a go.
Then we actually broke up and I was really upset. I was depressed. I wanted to smoke everyday because I thought it was helping me.
Voice over:
When cannabis is smoked, its main chemical, 9-tetrahydrocannabinol passes from the lungs into the bloodstream and the brain. In the brain, it increases the release of dopamine, which makes the user feel happy and relaxed 鈥 or high. Dopamine works in what鈥檚 called the reward pathway of the brain, which reinforces behaviour that feels pleasurable, encouraging users to smoke more cannabis, and eventually to become dependent on it.
Jade:
I would do it for fun, to make me feel better but then after a while I started to need it to go to sleep. I needed it to go out to get the confidence to do things. I was missing school because I couldn鈥檛 even be bothered to go in.
I just thought that I was being normal. I just thought I鈥檓 going to have another day off, it鈥檚 fine, it doesn鈥檛 matter.
So I was smoking with a group of boys. And we went to a house party. I鈥檇 heard of mephedrone. It was legal as well at this point and quite a lot of people were doing it and trying it out. So I鈥檇 heard things about it.
Voice over:
Mephedrone, which is sometimes called 鈥榤eow meow鈥, is part of a group of drugs called amphetamines, which include speed. It comes as a powder or pill and acts as a stimulant on the central nervous system, changing the chemical balance of the brain.
Mephedrone increases the availability of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline, which send messages across the brain affecting the user鈥檚 mood, behaviour and sleep.
Jade:
I think it just kind of became more of a curiosity as to why I wanted to try it. Like after I had that first line, it really just gave me a confidence boost. And like I just wanted to do it again and again.
I think my mum, from the beginning, she realised that I was starting to hang around with like quite a big social group so when I asked for money to go out she was always like, yeah that鈥檚 fine, you know, you can go out with your friends.
I kept going back to the flat where we were sniffing mephedrone but I never really, I didn鈥檛 always have the intention of doing it. If it was there and someone offered it to me then I would. And then I think it kind of went on like that for about two months.
When I did it I would always get a numb face, like this tingling sensation in my face. And I would go really weird and for a second I couldn鈥檛 really see. You have a really big high but the come down is just miserable. Like you鈥檒l be so buzzing, so hyperactive, all of a sudden you鈥檒l just be depressed.
Voice over:
Mephedrone can raise the heart rate and blood pressure. In some cases, it can narrow the blood vessels, causing the blood flow to be reduced, and toes, fingers and even the face to feel cold, and in Jade鈥檚 case, numb. The come-down effects include tiredness, dizziness, low mood and loss of memory.
Trying to avoid these negative effects can lead to longer-term use and eventually addiction.
Jade:
I would wake up in a sweat, where my body鈥檚 trying to get the drug out of my system. And I would always just feel really ill. And it wasn鈥檛 nice. I was always kind of depressed and just very, like confused of what I have done the night before.
A lot of the time people would point out how I was more moody or aggressive but I wouldn鈥檛 think twice about it. I thought that I was the same normal Jade at this point and obviously I wasn鈥檛. I was never really in the right state of mind. If somebody offered me a drug I would take it. I would never ask them what it was. I just saw it and took the drug and hoped I was all right later.
It was really dangerous.
The girl that I was picking up with every day, I sent her a text once to come round to my house after school to have a smoke and her mum actually found her phone and read the text. She then told my mum.
My mum said she didn鈥檛 think I was loyal any more. She didn鈥檛 want me around. She didn鈥檛 trust me. She didn鈥檛 want to give me money. And that was it for me and her. Our relationship had completely gone and it was up to me whether I rebuild it again.
And that really hurt me that I鈥檇 hurt her that much after everything she鈥檇 done for me鈥 I was very motivated to give up when I spoke to my mum. So we decided that I was going to quit from there.
After a while it kind of got to the point where I would just go downstairs and be like, look I鈥檓 feeling anxious. Can we have a chat? She spoke to me as if, like this was my life, it was my decision and if I was going to change it was going to be down to me.
I could have made better decisions. I could've turned to my friends or my family instead of turning to drugs when I was upset or angry. It鈥檚 always made out to be so glamorous and fun, but it鈥檚 not actually as good as everyone thinks.
Video summary
Jade gives a highly personal account of how taking a variety of illegal drugs devastated her life.
She describes how what began as a casual, one-off activity to help her relationship with her boyfriend eventually led to reliance, with severe physical and psychological consequences.
At 13, Jade was introduced to cannabis by her boyfriend.
Though at first reluctant, she soon became a regular smoker, moving on to mephedrone to which she eventually became addicted.
She began skipping school, and became increasingly isolated from her friends. It was only a final ultimatum from her mum, to whom she was devoted, that persuaded her to quit.
Jade has now returned to full time education and is studying for her A levels, having learned some hard lessons.
Jade's story is interspersed with graphics, which explain in detail the chemical and biological processes that were taking place in her body as she was taking drugs.
The film also highlights key statistics in relation to young people's drug taking, confirming that only a very small minority of young people have ever tried them.
This clip is from the series Drugs: My Story.
Teacher Notes
This clip could spark discussions about the first illegal drug Jade used.
It was cannabis, but what were the circumstances under which it happened? What could Jade have done differently?
In small groups or pairs, students could discuss the significance of mental health on Jade's experience.
Jade split up from her boyfriend and felt depressed. It is natural to feel depressed sometimes.
What healthy alternative things could Jade have done to deal with her feelings of depression?
Taking an illegal drug is a risky thing to do, what other risky behaviours do you think are associated with taking illegal drugs?
Students could also take on a drawing exercise: Jade took 'Meow Meow' (mephodrone) which belongs to a type of drug called amphetamines. What effect do Amphetamines have on the body, and which parts of the body do they affect?
Students could be encouraged to evaluate the one thing they have learned from the clip, or one thing they would do differently if faced with a similar set of circumstances.
This clip will be relevant for teaching the dangers of drug use in PSHE and Citizenship. This topic appears in OCR, Edexcel, AQA, WJEC KS4/GCSE in England and Wales, CCEA GCSE in Northern Ireland and SQA National 4/5 in Scotland._
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