Drug addiction is a serious disorder. If not treated, it can lead to crises like loss of employment, living quarters and important relationships. And as if this weren’t enough, this kind of addiction can cause illness and even death. Drug addiction is multi-layered and has a variety of causes as well as contributing factors. With the knowledge we have today, Simplistic anti-drug campaigns, such as the “Just Say No” program back in the 1980′s, and even more complex programs like “War on Drugs” is not very effective. The reason for this is that these campaigns do not address the root causes of drug addiction but battles the symptoms not the causes of drug addiction.
When most people consider a drug addiction problem, their minds go automatically to old movies or TV-series. A junkie trembling on a street corner, selling her own body for her next fix, or a tragic, pale old man lying in a gutter with a needle in his arm, or even a college girl snorting a line of crystal meth in a frat house bathroom during a wild party. These images are powerful indeed, but drug addiction generally creeps up in a slow but determined pace. Months or years are passing, during which time the addicted person is still able to function in a job, maintain a place to live as well as keeping relationships going. A drug or alcohol addiction problem generally passes slowly through several phases. Just because someone you know has not lost everything he or she owns to drugs does not have to mean that he or she does not have a drug addiction problem.
One of the most insidious drug addiction is prescription drug addiction, followed closely by alcohol addiction. Let’s face it; we are a nation of pill poppers and alcohol beverage drinkers. Since we were children we learned that if something hurts, we should take a pill to make the pain disappear. We also see that children are being prescribed drugs such as Ritalin in increasing amounts, as parents and doctors smudge the line between active, healthy kids and kids with a true Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). All the time we are bombarded with advertising for pain relievers, sleep medication and a lot of other remedies; prescribed and over the counter. Seen from this point of view, prescription drug addiction is not hard to understand. We hardly question the doctor thoroughly about the risk of dependency on any medication, since using medicine for almost any problem is so widely accepted. It’s so easy to take the drug without question and before we know it, we may have developed a prescription drug addiction.
Alcohol addiction is almost as easy to develop for much the same reason. We live in a culture of drinking. We often go out for cocktails after work or drinking beer with friends during a sports event slowly gives way to having one, two, three, even six or eight beers every night. It feels normal to continually re-visit the bar during a night at a pub. Next thing we identify is a full-blown alcohol drug addiction.
How harsh (or maybe great) it may sound, you are the only person that can prevent alcohol or drug addiction, due to the choices or decisions you make. Although addiction is classified as a disease, it may well be one of the few diseases that people choose to get. Each drug or alcohol addicted person started their life as an addict by making a choice. You are free to make the same choice or you can choose to not allow drug addiction to be your disease. It’s your choice and whether you like it or not, it is the price you have to pay for being a human with a free will.addiction a seat in your life. It’s up to you.
