How Drugs Ruin Lives
As someone who has never used drugs, let alone held a cigarette, I have certainly been witness to what drugs can do to a person’s life as well as the lives of those around them who care. The pathway to drug use and abuse can (and often does) start with something as simple as a cigarette. I can remember going to a party at a friend’s house when I was in the seventh grade. Her parents were home and were in the backyard when one of my other friends quietly got all of us to go into the front yard. She then began to hand out cigarettes to everyone- cigarettes that she had stolen from her mother. This was my first encounter with drugs of any kind. Over a decade later, this same person has run the gamut of being addicted to various other kinds of drugs, has been kicked out of her house several times by her parents, and is still doing drugs despite the fact that she now has a two year-old daughter to care for.
While it is sad to see my friend this way, I cannot help but become angry with her- angry at her selfishness to continue engaging in risky behavior that is only hurting herself and the other people who love and care for her so much. There is a saying that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. The same can be said for those who use drugs or are addicted to drugs. Even if you get them to the front door of a reputable drug and alcohol rehab clinic or center, it is going to ultimately be up to them as to whether or not they open that door towards regaining control of their life. Perhaps the biggest mistake that people make begins with their thinking. They are often in denial that a problem even exists, and as we all know- if a problem ceases to exist then why would you fight to solve it?
The first step in becoming clean and sober is recognizing and accepting the fact that you do have a problem, that it is affecting your life as well as the lives of the people who love and care about you and that if you don’t resolve the problem soon, it could kill you. The best way to not allow drugs to ruin your life or the lives of those around you is to never start to begin with. Just like my friend who handed out the cigarettes all those years ago, we all fight our own private battles- battles which come to the surface and manifest itself in different ways. We need to address these underlying issues that we have so that they don’t turn into a ravenous drug problem that is no longer in our control. What do I mean by this? Drug problems and issues revolving around drug use often stem from stressors in our lives. The man who drinks too much and is an alcoholic may have picked up his first bottle when he was a young boy and saw his parents acting violently towards one another. For another adult female heroine addict, she may have run away from an abusive relationship and as a “quick fix” may have tried heroin to take the edge off of her horrible reality.
It seems that many people use drugs as an escape from some problem or issue that they either don’t want to deal with at all or are having trouble dealing with. This is not the way to solve the problem. Often times, an intervention is needed in order to directly address the issue. If the drug user cares enough (or is coherent enough to care) about his or her family and friends and how they feel, then this may be enough for them to admit themselves to a drug and alcohol rehab center.
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