# Cambridge medicine — then mowing lawns

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-cambridge-friend-soft-drugs-to-heroin
- Themes: addiction, friends, university, warning, precepts
- Life situations: worried about a friend drug use, peer pressure

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

One of Ajahn Brahm's best school friends won a place to study medicine at Cambridge, started on marijuana, progressed to heroin, was expelled for stealing from medical-school supplies, and when Brahm last saw him was mowing lawns to get by. Friends later said he would steal whenever he visited. Soft drugs, Brahm warns, slide into hard ones; the sense of being 'in control' is conceit.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

One of my best friends at school, he also went to Cambridge with me, studying medicine. Imagine getting a place in Cambridge University to study medicine. What a great start in life. Started taking marijuana. You don't control yourself. You're lost. And eventually heroin. Became an addict, got kicked out of university from stealing from the medical supplies at the uh the med school. And the last time I saw him, he was mowing people's lawns, just trying to get by. A brilliant man. And he was one of my friends. Now, when I was a young monk so in Thailand, my other friends said that you know, that he got He even knows our friend, whenever you go to our house, he would steal, steal.

## Teaching point

The feeling of being in control is often the first thing the drugs take away.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

One of Ajahn Brahm's brightest school friends won a place to study medicine at Cambridge, then slid from cannabis to heroin, was expelled for stealing, and ended up mowing lawns. Feeling in control is the illusion. Caring for a friend may mean saying no when others don't. Peers often respect a calm, firm stand.

## Source

- [Oh What A Relief! | by Ajahn Brahm | 16-05-2013](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_3cozc023Y) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 52:56 to 53:52: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_3cozc023Y&t=3176s