There are many adolescents in the world that experiment with alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana, because of a desire to fit in or peer pressure from their friends, which in many cases they see these things as a key to popularity.
Those who do are more likely to experience problems in school, suffer from depression, have unsafe sex, or become involved in dangerous activities. The word abuse raises a lot of red flags and of course is a broad topic for discussion. In this story Mark confides in his readers of various episodes where abuse was somewhat camouflaged, and made to believe that there were positive aspects during events of drug abuse, which later on led to different stages: 1) physical abuse, 2) mental abuse. All very detrimental to the life of an adult male trying to succeed, provide a positive environment, and single parenting.
