I remember it like it was yesterday.

I was only 12 years old.

It was a moment that changed the course of my life forever.

The guy my mum was dating at the time offered me some marijuana and I tried it.

Fast forward a year, and I was regularly using. Pretty much everyday, in fact.

My daily drug use then continued until my early twenties.

Although I probably knew that it wasn’t the best thing for me, why would I or why should I stop when everyone around me was doing it? Members of my family, my friends…. Most of my circle of influence was using drugs in some way.

So it became my normal.

And that’s just one example of the power of our circle of influence.