Laura Hope Laws: Laura's Heroin Addiction

Heather was addicted to painkillers for eight years. She grew up extremely close to her grandfather and after

Lauren’s mother succumbed to the troubles of the world and was addicted to drugs while she was pregnant. Her mother’s addiction caused the severity of Lauren’s

mother died of lung cancer. After these devastating events took place, it was a phone call from her twin sister Becka, and knowing that therapy alone or coupled with AA weren’t enough to break her physical and emotional addiction with alcohol, that

Jim, a high school all-star basketball player becomes addicted to heroin. He tries to hide his addiction, but it becomes quite prevalent when it begins to overtake his life entirely. To begin with, Jim reflects on his first experiences with heroin and refers to it as a “chippy” habit. He isn’t aware of the addictiveness of this potent drug, which shortly becomes habitual. His addiction leads to him being kicked off the basketball team, out of his own house, and then desperate on the streets of New York City alongside of his friends. This substantially progresses his addiction, resulting in him passing out in the snow one night. Thanks to Jim’s former basketball friend, Jim is forced to withstand from heroin. Jim become extremely agitated from withdrawal and escapes to look for some more. Jim later finds himself in a six-month rehab, which he notes “the

Addiction is a serious problem, especially when it comes to drugs, and can severely impact one's life, which can be seen in these three following stories. First of all, Katrina K. had two addict parents and grew up in a one parent household, where she faced problems such as depression and molesting, which could be escaped through drugs. Next is an anonymous health professional that started his addiction in medical school when his friend offered him stimulants to stay awake to study, which developed into a continued use to keep up with the demanding workload of his practice. Finally, Tracey Helton Mitchell was a good student, but started addiction when she got her wisdom teeth taken out and received opiates, which led to many problems. Each of these previous addicts abused a different drug and started for several reasons.

Once this girl started with the drugs, she could not stop. As soon as she tried the first drug, it lead to all of the other drugs and things that she did. Her first time doing the drug was an accident, and she did not know, but she made the wrong choice in continuing to do them. She said it gave her a feeling of belonging and love that she had never felt before. If her parents or her close friends had paid more attention to her, then some of the events that happened would not have happened. Her heavy drug use lead to her runaway from home to the streets, involvement in crime, her prostitution, and her visit to the insane asylum. She found a "best friend" (Chris) - one that would give her drugs - and they decided to runaway and leave their family and friends to start their own shop in San Francisco. They thought they could not handle their parents telling them what is right and what is wrong, but that is what they needed to hear. They were naive in thinking they could live their lives alone without any rules or any authority.

Research has found that teenagers who used cigarettes were twelve times more likely to graduate to marijuana use. A similar study conducted by Denise Kandel (1992) revealed that use of marijuana affects dopamine levels in the brain in a similar way to nicotine. Cigarette smoking facilitates consumption of other substances. Smoking cigarettes initiate juveniles into the sensation of drug inhalation, which desensitizes them from the feeling of smoke clouding their lungs. This paper finds that marijuana pervades the life of a juvenile tobacco smoker. Teenagers who smoke cigarettes

Thus far, throughout the semester, I have gained so much awareness and understanding for those whom are struggling with substance misuse. Addiction has played a major role in my immediate family life. Over the years, I have realized that addiction does not discriminate on a basis of race, gender, or social status. Based on my personal experiences, the perspective I have of addiction is that it is like a disease. It does not just affect the individual; it also affects everyone the individual comes into contact with. Addiction overall, is not just associated with drugs and alcohol, it is present with gambling, Internet use, sex, or even food (Van Wormer, 2013). In order to understand an individual who suffers from substance misuse, a therapist must first know the definition of addiction, be able to asses and diagnose a client with an addiction, explore the bio-psychosocial-spiritual aspects of their addiction, laws and ethics related to their addiction, and provide the proper treatment that will help them to recover. Throughout this paper, from a bio-psychosocial-spiritual perspective, I plan to explore the causes of Gia’s addiction to Heroin. In addition, I will examine my personal perspective on addiction and what treatment interventions and laws and ethics might come into play in therapy with Gia. Overall, I hope to provide Gia with an understanding of her addiction and provide the proper treatment on her road to recovery.

The years prior to Roxy’s confession, I spent nights wondering if she was alive when I should have been spending time fighting with her over clothes or painting each others nails like normal sisters do. As for Roxy now, I find comfort in that rehab is a sense of heaven for her; her relief after nearly ten years of such a murderous addiction. Her relief from so many years of pain is more prominent in the radiating glow of healthiness and happiness that has replaced a dependence on a poison. In essence, Roxy’s road to recovery has been a sense of relief to our whole family, and all religion aside, Roxy’s recovery has been as close to a heaven on Earth as

Marijuana, also known as cannabis, is a plant used to produce hemp fiber and as a psychotropic drug. There are many ways to consume the plant, but most often, it is consumed through a cigarette. Over many years, marijuana has been looked at as a gateway drug and something attached to violence and addiction. Users of marijuana have been stereotyped to abuse the drug to get high rather than to medicate their bodies. The hip-hop and hippie communities shed a light on marijuana that gave society a good excuse to view it negatively. Many have overlooked the benefits of marijuana by being blinded by the stereotypes society has created. Despite the negative outlooks, there are an abundance of benefits that using

More than one attempt was made to get herself off of drugs. Her first attempt was horrible and spent another two years on drugs. A second attempt at rehab was tried and for a year she was sober. The sad truth though was that soon after her one year sobriety she started ecstasy once again. Daniela gave up trying and moved from Boston to a small town in North Carolina to try to get away from the drugs.

According to a 2012 Monitoring the Future study, marijuana is the illicit drug most likely to be used by teens (Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey). Marijuana comes from the plant Cannabis Sativa and appears as a green/brown mix of flowers, stems, and leaves (Teens Health 1). Marijuana is also known as pot, weed, MJ, Mary Jane, reefer, dope, ganja, herb, and grass. Marijuana is most often smoked in cigarettes, hollowed-out cigars, pipes, or water pipes, but is sometimes mixed into food or tea (1). Why are there concerns about teen use of marijuana? During adolescence, many developmental changes are occurring and poor choices could affect a teen’s future

It seems every decade marijuana studies show that it has no side effects on users, in turn it become more available like when some states in America had legalized it. Dr Kevin M. Gray believes that the only side effect of smoking weed is the physical addictions it causes, he believes that over 51% of all teens have used weed at least once and the biggest problem we are facing with this rapidly growing drug use is only addiction. Dr Marshall M. Gay believes that the health effects of weed isn’t that much as smoking cigarettes and doesn’t see it a threat to people’s health. “More than half (51%) of adolescents reported that marijuana is fairly or very easy to obtain.2 this ease of availability may have contributed to a recently reported "reverse gateway" from cigarettes use to marijuana”. The more ignored belief is that marijuana can lead to a variety of developmental, mental and physical side effects. The effects of smoking weed can extend to those of smoking cigarettes “studies show regular marijuana use can lead to many of the same

Marijuana is one of the most commonly used drugs in the Nation and the world. In an article by Gray (2007) he states that “42% of high school seniors have tried marijuana, 18% have used it in the past 30 days, and 5% use it daily. Among adolescents aged 12 to 17, 3.6% met criteria for cannabis use disorder (abuse or dependence) and 2% met criteria for cannabis dependence”. Gray (2007) also explains how easily adolescents say it is to obtain marijuana these days. The article also states that there is evidence to prove that marijuana use may lead to “hard” drug use, academic failure, and more. With those who use marijuana chronically it may lead to impairing of the immune

During this time, my mother found that her diamond earrings were missing. She then subconsciously had a feeling that Becky knew where they were. My mother asked Becky about it and Becky just said she didn’t know anything about it, but that wasn’t the true story at all. By that time I was in Nebraska visiting my favorite aunt. A week went by and I had missed Mother’s day that year since our flight was canceled, so we stayed an extra day. The next day I finally get home, not to find a warm home with my family greeting me at the door, but instead to find my parents and my sister with a couple of suitcases in their hands walking to the car. I proceed to ask my mother what was wrong with my sister and she replied with “Yesterday Becky confessed that for the past year, she has been doing heroin.” My heart sank. I never thought it was that serious. My parents took her to rehab, and I went into my room and cried the rest of the day.