A recent article in UCLA’s daily newspaper presented the stories of two current students who left behind a life of drug use and petty drug dealing to focus on more long-term priorities, namely school.

The students, who used pseudonyms for obvious reasons, show us once again that it is possible to turn around a lifestyle that many deem inescapable.

I think that one of the biggest obstacles to the advancement of drug addiction treatment in our society is the stigma associated with having taken part in drug use in the first place.

It’s difficult to get the stories of those who’ve made it out while they’re hiding in the shadows.

In the meantime, what we get instead is the story of those who fail in the most spectacular fashion. They don’t care enough about the stigma to shy away from revealing their story and truthfully, no one gives them a choice.

I hope this story reminds people that having a past does not doom one to eternal suffering in oblivion.

There is hope…