David Toma: Self

Quotes 

• David Toma : ...I want all of you to listen to me very closely this morning. When I'm done, I want each and every one of you to walk out that door -- and to do whatever you want with your life, because it's your life and nobody else's. But, before I start, I want you all to know that I've been there. I played the game before most of you were born. I lost my five-year-old son; he died right in my arms, and over that I became a drug addict. I know what drugs are all about, because I got hooked and then got clean. That's what I'm here to share with you this morning: I'm here to talk with you about a subject the whole world is talking about. Everywhere I go, they're talking about it -- and yet most of them don't understand it. It's a little thing called marijuana... Every day, I've got kids coming to me and saying they can't think anymore. They're losing their memory, going numb, can't feel certain parts of their bodies... Some of the things they put in grass will blow your mind, both figuratively and literally. I want to tell you this story of a kid I met a while ago, in Baltimore. He was 19 years old. I found him on the streets, completely naked. The cops picked him up and brought him to their station. As soon as they took the handcuffs off him and put him in a cell, the first thing he did was run to the bars and start hollering at the nearest officer: "I want to get out, I want to get out! I'll kill you!" A few minutes later, I told another officer: "Go find out why that kid is screaming at the top of his lungs." The other officer went to the cell, then came back and told me, "Dave, somebody laced that kid's joint with angel dust." So I checked on the kid myself, and found him shaking the bars with one hand; with his other hand, he had gouged his own eyes out. I've stayed in touch with that kid; today he travels all over the country, doing his best to help other kids stay clean and sober.