July 24th

The night of July 24th, 2008 was the night that I decided to quit smoking pot. I had 'issues' with harder drugs in my teenage years and in my 20s.

A few weeks prior to this decision I had witnessed my boyfriend at the time go throgh withdraws from prescribed narcotics, including not sleeping for 5 days, the shakes, a monsterous migraine, and several other withdraw symptoms. He was on various narcotics for pain management after being hit by a drunk driver and almost being paralyzed. He has a 360 degree steal cage in his back and lived in pain every day. To the best of my recollection some of the narcotics he was prescribed were 750 mg Vicodin and Oxycodone with Morphine.

The evening that I decided to quit smoking pot I had ran out of smoke and did not have the money to buy a bag. I would had to of dipped into bill money or my poker bankroll in order to buy one, and both of those were not options for me. I had smoked every day for 18+ years, excluding my pregnancy. After seeing what he went through I knew that quitting smoking marijuana after having quit doing other drugs in my past, well, the whole process would not be that hard.

I had 3 minor relapses including the following Christmas Eve, then March and May of 2010. I wanted to be drug free for several reasons, including to set a good example for my daughter. I also wanted to be drug free before I moved to Las Vegas since Nevada has zero tolerance for drug offenders. Being that I want to get a job dealing Poker in casino and they test your hair for drugs, that was even more incentive to quit.

I feel so much better about myself and my future since I have been drug free and I will never go back to it. I know that many people have battled drug and/or alcohol abuse, it's a hard road to travel in life.

Do you think it is ironic that I arrived in Las Vegas on July 24th, 2010 ~ 2 years to the day that I originally quit drugs? It was not planned that way and I didn't even realize it til I was out here for a few weeks.

To stop smoking marijuana was something that I knew had to be done for myself. It was the start of my road to Vegas to pursue my dream.