Every person at one point of their lives may be exposed to drug temptation or experimentation. There are people you know that may have experimented with drugs in the past but did not become addicted. However, there are some people that may have experimented with a certain drug one or two times and became addicted. You may be wondering why this is. I have always wondered why?
I had my share of "curiosity" with drugs. I smoked pot few times, had laugh trip, food trip and everything was just slow. I did the "poor man's cocaine", the first time i did it, it did defeat the alcohol effect til morning, made me talk more and more, made me sweat and lost my appetite. The next time I did it, it has no effect at all. I can stay all night without it, I can control my alcohol intake without it, and I am in born talkative, so its effects are normal for me. I did cough syrup, all it did was raise my hair on my nape...and slowed me down. I am telling this because I want to emphasize that even if I tried these forbidden and dangerous drugs, it did not gave me sensational feelings...I thought drugs could turn you to be the person you always aspire to be, so thinking I would be a SUPERWOMAN, i did it...but as Ive said, it failed me....I am still a SUPERWOMAN the way i am, in few other ways!!!
So what about other people? I know of someone who has been taking drugs since he was in high school. He is very dear to my heart and every time I talk to him, I try hard to read his mind on why is he so addicted to it when all he does is complain about its ill effects to him physically. He doesn't go to school anymore, the most untrustworthy in their family according to his mom, his friends are the people with questionable characters...most of his stories of friends are those in jail, killed or raped because of drugs....His life is sure going downhill. I tried hard to put sense in his mind, but because he is very young, I doubt if the things i said to him ever came across even an inch to his brain. I care for this man, though he never showed deeper interest in me, he has always been a good sight to behold. I love it when he could laugh at himself, I love making a day pass by that he could be drug free. I have realized I failed in doing so...He became too familiar with me that he could even tell straight to my face lies he could muster. And I realized I failed him too, I wanted to give him the care he couldn't get from anyone else, just so he would realize that LIFE is STILL BEAUTIFUL..that he could still mend his ways and start again...He did and stopped drugs for the same woman...He stopped because he fell in love with her and when she dumped him, he went back to his old ways. Maybe he is emotionally weak to stand firm on his ground, maybe he acts if motivated, so when the motivating factors ebbed, so went his will.
There are many different factors that play a role in drug addiction. Better understanding what these are can help us make more sense out of what we have seen or experienced oourselves. There are certain genes that may actually make someone more likely to use or abuse drugs as they grow. Biology is a very complex subject, each one of us react differently to a given situation. So the chemical/anatomical structure of a person could be one factor. Another factor is the person's environment. Someone that is around drugs most of their lives will be more likely to experiment. Just like parents who speaks French, will likely to have a family who will be speaking French their whole lives. If they also have the genes that make them more susceptible to drug abuse then they may be facing a large battle. Think about it, if you are watching someone use drugs on a daily basis then you may grow up thinking that it is normal and acceptable. Along with environmental factors, it could crop out from one person's LIFE experiences, it could be about stress and abuse. These factors may make someone more willing to drugs or alcohol as a way to hide from their problems. Mental illness or other emotional disorders can be found as factors for some people because the drugs are often used as a way to self medicate. This can be very hard to break, especially if their environment is full of drugs and they are not surrounded by positive support systems. This can be how the drug abuse starts. Then, it becomes an inappropriate coping skill and an addiction. And I think that's how it is for my dear friend, he uses drug to COPE with life..for his ineptness, for his loneliness, for his way to REACH OUT!! And I guess, nobody understood him any way he would want to be.
So how do you help someone who is an ADDICT? Would you cater to his ways and let him cope the way he knows how? Or would you put your foot down and be hard on him? Can you use tough love? Would an addict recognize the difference between genuine care or nor? Would he be able to appreciate and make it as his driving force? What if you cant tell if he is an addict or not? Who can make him stop? Would another woman he might fall in love with make miracles? How far would you go caring for an addict? Lastly, are ADDICTS capable of really loving? Think about that the next time that you encounter someone that is dealing with a drug addiction.
I'm still thinking until now....
