Truthfully I Was A Bad Guy...Well That's Inspiring

            Teens are mostly interested in themselves, however, that does not mean they always act in the best interest of themselves. This has to do directly with drugs. Teens care more about how people perceive them then how they perceive themselves and James Frey has shown this in his book A Million Little Pieces. I admit that the book was unbelievable—literally—but it gave the wrong message to drug users. After being interrogated, Frey was asked by Oprah why he lied like he did. He responded, “"’I was a bad guy…if I was gonna write a book that was true, and I was gonna write a book that was honest, then I was gonna have to write about myself in very, very negative ways’” (The Smoking Gun). This isn’t exactly something Frey should be telling to an audience that is mostly made up of recovery addicts.

            The problem that I have with this book is that Frey wrote it partially to inspire others and make them believe they can overcome their addictions he did. If he writes about himself in such negative and vulgar ways, how are they supposed to feel inspired? They will think that they need to look at themselves as bad people in order to move on. Frey also said, “I am an Alcoholic and I am a Drug Addict and I am a Criminal.” I get that Frey is coming to terms with who and what he is, but that doesn’t mean that he is all bad. He fails to be able to meet his own eyes in the mirror and that doesn’t help anyone reading the book. They will see the shame he has in himself and start to feel the same way.

An article on teen abuse on drugs titled “Teen Drug Use” by Jennifer Kerr in the Huffington Post said, “abuse of prescription medicine…rate went from 5 percent in 2008 to 9 percent last year, or about 1.5 million teens toking up…20 or more times a month.” This number cannot be ignored and is encouraged by people like James Frey. He exxaggerated the amount of drugs he used which made teenage users believe could use more without consequence. Frey almost faced death, but that is overshadowed by the fact that he survived. Teens look at that and think they can do the same, but the fact of the matter is they can’t.



Huffington Post Article Link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/02/teen-drug-use_n_1470151.html