We have a friend who comes from a very wealthy family, grew up in a privileged neighborhood, went to an exclusive high school and was surrounded by friends of substance. He also picked up a nasty little cocaine habit, but at that time, even cocaine was a pretty classy drug of choice.
Unlike some of us who had to buy cocaine in quantity and then sell part of it off in order to support our own habit, our wealthy friend didn’t have that particular inconvenience to contend with. If he bought a couple of eightballs or a half-ounce, they were pretty much for his own personal use, and maybe a toot or two for his closest friends.
When he needed money to buy more drugs, he’d go to his walk-in closet, open up his wall safe, and pull out a couple of shares of stock that he had inherited from his grandparents. He’d sell them off, not even bothering to see if the stock happened to be up or down that day.
Talking about it years later, after he’d decimated his stock holdings and finally become clean and sober, our friend remarked, “If I’d just quit taking those daily trips to the closet five years earlier, I’d still be a rich man.”
A lot of us in recovery or fresh out of drug abuse facilities talk about “the last three years” or “the last five years” of our addiction, and how things would be different had we quit using drugs at a more opportune moment.
Truth be told, we quit when we’re finally ready to quit and lamenting our timing or decision-making skills is nothing but a waste of time. Of course, the important thing is, we’re clean and sober. But it might be worthwhile to explore what led to our addiction, not only so we don’t fall into that trap again, but in order to possibly teach others how to avoid our mistakes.
When talking about drug addiction, we hear the words “abuse” and “dependency,” and it’s pretty easy to use these words interchangeably, when in fact, they are two completely different animals.
Drug abuse refers to those of us who continue to use drugs even though we’ve got a pretty good inkling that it’s taking a toll on our health, finances, social standing, employment status and our relationships with, say, the local police. In other words, our life is beginning to become unmanageable. In fact, it’s unraveling before our eyes.
Initial signs include poor grades in school or troubles at the workplace; the use of drugs in situations where it could harm others, such as driving or babysitting; or strained relations with family and friends.
Drug dependence, on the other hand, is kind of an advanced course in drug abuse, wherein we have built up a tolerance to our drug of choice and we find we need more and more of that substance in order to maintain the same “high” we used to enjoy with less of the drug.
In addition, we lose the “take it or leave it” decision we had when we were just experimenting or “socially” using addictive substances. We find that we experience intense withdrawal symptoms if we’re deprived of our favorite illicit substance. What has happened is, we’ve developed a tolerance to the drug, and there’s no going back to the “occasional use” mode.
You try to cut back on your drug use, but you find you are unable to do so. And you continue to use drugs even though it is harming your relationships and causes you to develop physical problems.
In addition, the addict finds himself or herself completely involved in finding the drug, purchasing the drug and using the drug, to the detriment of everything else. It is at this stage that alternate means of obtaining funds for the habit begin to surface – taking cash from parents or grandparents, dipping into the children’s college fund, borrowing money from friends. And in the ugliest scenario, shoplifting or breaking into homes or businesses for items you can hock for dope money.
When it comes to drug abuse or drug dependency, sometimes it becomes the task of the family or close friends to take the next step. The recovery process can include drug interventions, drug abuse facilities – with or without the detoxification process – counseling and aftercare. The most important thing is to get help before abuse turns into dependency.
Morningside Recovery in Newport Beach, California, specializes in the treatment of alcoholism, drug abuse and mental disorders. For more information, call .
{ 0 comments }
