Struggles Of Addiction

Many people do not understand why or how other people become addicted to drugs. Drug addiction is a complex chronic disease that causes impairment with the mind to express emotion, engage into physical activities and simply being one’s self. In fact, through scientific research, people understand more about how drugs work in the brain more than ever, and they also know that drug addiction can be successfully treated with some help from those who want change in the death rates amongst drug addict Americans. No one will ever truly understand why a person performs such deadly behaviors, but this is their way of crying out for help. It is time to take a stand and help those in need of escape from drugs and

Many people believe that drug addiction is a moral issue and that the user can stop taking drugs at their own free will. According to Baltimore City's health commissioner, Dr. Leana Wen, "The biggest misconception that people have about opioid addiction, and any addiction, is that it is a choice that individuals make. Therefore the implication is that if someone is addicted, it's a moral failing – if they end up dead, it's their fault… (Newman).”

There is a lot of shame surrounding addiction, and this may deter people from seeking treatment. It is common for one to face rejection from friends or family when they become open about their addiction and because of this fear, they often feel too ashamed to seek help. The person who is addicted will then continue to hide their addiction, often resulting in disastrous consequences. A 2015 study showed that only 20% of current opioid addicts receive treatment for their addiction, and a lot of this is attributed to stigma. By stigmatizing drug addiction and discouraging addicts from seeking treatment, we are allowing the life-ruining effects of addiction to continue

Many people believe the misconception that an addiction is a moral problem and not a disease. To better understand the reasons why an additicition is in fact a disease; I will identify several types of addictions, and the problems associated with them. I will examine reasons why certain people are more susceptible for developing an addiction. Also, I will determine why many addicts deny their problems and many recovery methods addicts use to fight their illness. Researching these issues, will help aid my claim that addiction is a disease.

Addiction- a primary, chronic, neurobiologic disease, with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. It is characterized by behaviors that include one or more of the following: impaired control over drug use, compulsive use, continued use despite harm, and craving. The difference between addiction and abuse is often times unclear. It’s a difficult call to make as a family member or a close friend that is dealing with a person like this in their life, but ultimately it is a call that only the addict can make for themselves. There are tons of different sources and tests and questions out there that can be done that can

Addiction is a disease that I will battle for the rest of my life. After being sexually assaulted at the age of twelve, I started to self-destruct. Lack of parental support, less than pristine living conditions, and an addictive personality paved an expressway to a life of addiction. I chose to hang with undesirable people, and was introduced to Marijuana, LSD, Ecstasy, PCP, Cocaine, Heroin and eventually what became the love of my life, the prescription painkiller Morphine. Never did I think that trying pot would have a domino effect. It led me to try harder and more addictive substances ultimately turning my life upside down. Often publicly

Upon entering the NA meeting I had mixed feelings. I didn’t know how to come to the meeting knowing my intentions were neither to give nor receive help. I felt like I was an intruder. I didn’t understand why I should betray others or act as if I was an addict who chose not to interact in the healing and recovering process. All of those things pushed me into the door of a meeting and open my mind to the hurt behind the physical appearance of these people. Their stories were heart wrenching. They all wanted help or do be noticed at some point of their lives before they became addicts. Never knowing the decisions they chose to take that first hit would turn their

Drug addiction is stigmatized throughout society. Stigma is seen in all types of situations; race, religion, disease, mental health, addiction, what a person’s social and economic standing is. All those examples can be stigmatized, and we, ourselves, do this every day and may not know we are. Because society and especially the media has engrained these moral judgments in our minds about what is right or what is normal. But we should take a second to think about these things a little more in depth before defaulting to what we think we know about these problems. In the case of drug addiction, we see stigma in all types of shapes and sizes. Whether in the media or walking to class with a group of friends, we see it more often than not. That feeling you get when you see a person on the street walking through the rows of cars at a stoplight. Some people (myself included) roll up their windows and avoid eye contact hoping they will just walk by. Chances are that person is in that situation because of a serious addiction and really needs help, but isn’t afforded that chance because we the normal people avoid them at all cost. Maybe we can change that. Maybe we can break through these common stigmas and begin to make a change in the way addiction is viewed in society.

Beating an addiction to drugs or alcohol doesn't require special intellect, some unique formula, or heavily guarded secret. There is no miracle cure, magic pill, or expensive medication. On the contrary in fact, because the steps you need to follow are mostly about using common sense.

As a social work student, I couldn’t believe this was even up for debate. We should be doing anything we can to help everyone have a chance. We can’t just look at these drug users as people who have given up, we need to work with them and reach out with help. We want them to feel no different than anyone else. They might just be at a bump in the road but it can and will get better with the right help. When we show positivity instead of looking down on an avid drug user we give them hope and help them see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are all

We'll start with the first person my mother decided to bring home. She brought him into her computer office, and got know what type of person he was. He began working with her for a couple months, living and traveling from the mission, an endangered homeless community, and eventually my mother decided to provide him a home. In our home, we had one guest room, we allowed people to stay once in a while. She provided food and housing as long as they decided to continue working at her self employed computer shop. I could always tell when someone is either addicted to drugs or trying to battle an addiction. For me, I could always hear the rustling around in the middle of the night, or going outside for “a smoke”. I think the hardest part about the addiction is knowing that drugs cost the user almost nothing, but costs society, “close to $200 billion in healthcare, criminal justice, legal, and lost workplace production/participation costs in 2007, the Office on National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) reports.” This individual was our first house guest, and he beat all of the odds that society had set up for him. He never stole from us, he worked continuously in his provided job, and beat it. Currently, he does have a low level job currently; however, he has his own apartment, provides for himself, and can create a healthy non-addicted future for himself.

Overcoming addiction is a lifelong struggle and one that takes a lot out of a person. People have to fight against the urge to use every day, and sadly that fight is often lost. However, many people are turning to hypnotherapy in their fight against the rigors of drug addiction. That 's right: they are literally getting hypnotized to stop using drugs.

“Life was good before I met the monster. After, life was great. At least for a little while” (Hopkins 1). In Ellen Hopkins novel , Crank , the main character, Kristina experiences her life collapsing due to methamphetamine. Kristina’s life had many possibilities of being successful. She was a gifted high-school student, discreet and never in trouble. Her talent was thrown away when she was introduced to methamphetamine. The reader follows Kristina 's downward spiral as she attempts to feed her addiction and deal with the consequences of the bad decisions that she has made. At one of her lowest points, Kristina gains knowledge that she is

It’s easy to lose track of the chaos that happens in the world on a day to day basis when your main priority is deciding what to eat for lunch tomorrow, or even dreading your next shift; yet we can turn on the news and hear about the most recent overdose and not even blink an eye. The blatant disregard for drug addicts today is at an ultimate high. In the past two years alone, more people have died from opiate addiction than they have in the entire Vietnam War. The fact that drug users are seen as lower class members of society as only aided in the increase of addiction and death, killing more Americans than HIV/AIDS did at its peak. Though the epidemic did not occur overnight, it has recently become one of America’s biggest health confrontations. Although there is no absolute solution, in order to decelerate the prevailing wave of usage and overdose/death, decriminalization in correlation to government funded programs could give ease to the definition of the word “epidemic”.

Many people believe that drug addicts should be treated as criminals. When it comes to the topic of drug addicts, most of us will readily agree that they should be put in jail because some of them might go to far and try to harm someone while being on drugs. Where this agreement usually ends however, people don’t look at the fact that the drug addicts probably have a lot of problems, and just need help. Whereas some are convicted that they could go to a rehab center and get the help they need, others maintain that going to jail would take them off the streets so that they won 't harm anything or anyone. Although, I 've always believed that drug addicts should not be treated as criminals, but as having a medical problem.