This chapter focuses on first times that are socially noteworthy and
personally memorable, dependent on who one wishes to emulate or what one wishes to
explore/experience. For some individuals these “firsts” emphasize drug use, often
associated with experimentation in growing-up. For men and women in the sample of
127, these events they remembered, such as first drug ever used, each new drug used
thereafter for the first time, the last time that a new drug was initiated, and juncture in a
life-long narrative, when someone “ceased using” and gained sobriety.
This chapter introduces 24 randomized narrators, beginning with Arnie, who had no
experience with drugs or alcohol, when he first entered the United States. The snippets
for each of the twenty-four describe lifetime drug repertoires, significant remembrances
covered in their Narrative Life Story, and a truncated appraisal of their structural
vulnerability experienced throughout their lifetime. The chapter opens with a rhetorical
scenario of common first times for most everyone.
Keywords: Administration mode, age cohort, continuing use, controlled
substances, discontinuation, drinking, drugging, familiar locale, first times, first
use, inward-pulling, last use, new drug use, overdose, polyuse, relapse, seasonal
initiation, sojourn onset, Tale of Onset, temporary locale.