The steps to Drug Dependency

I once heard someone say that drug dependents should be locked up in a cage and the keys should be thrown away. I also heard people say that drug addicts are no different from common criminals. I even heard another person say that drug dependents are very bad people with no conscience and are very irresponsible. After hearing all that I definitely never wanted to admit that I had problems with drug abuse and that I was probably an addict. So I hid it the best way I knew to do so. I just numbed myself from my feelings and the outside world by taking more and more drugs. But today, after almost thirty years of active drug abuse and now going on my eighth year clean and free from all types of drugs, I know better. At the start of my recovery from drug dependency the first thing I needed to learn and accept was the fact that I was sick with the disease of Chemical Dependency (Drug Addiction) and that I needed to understand what was happening to me for my own recovery treatment program to work. I also needed to learn to understand the phases I went through that lead to my Addiction.

In understanding drug addiction more clearly it is important to judge the level at which a person uses drugs and thereby have a benchmark by which to judge whether the drug use is accelerating or becoming problematic. But to be able to do so properly, it is necessary to first know the amount, frequency and duration of drug use. The second key factor is to know the impact the use has on an individual's life, and this can be seen through the levels of use.

What is Drug Abuse?
Any mind-changing, mood-altering substance, including alcohol, is a drug. Use of any drug for purposes other than those for which it is intended; or in manners, or in quantities other than directed, is drug abuse. Drug Addiction is the obsession with thinking about using drugs and the compulsion to continue doing so once started, despite adverse consequences for doing so. It goes through various stages that starts with Experimenting and eventually leads to Dependency. Here is a clearer explanation of the stages the following stages:

1. EXPERIMENTAL: With experimentation, people become curious about the effects of a drug or are influenced by relatives, friends, advertising, or other media and take some when it becomes available to satisfy that curiosity. The drug use is limited to only a few exposures. No patterns of use develop and there are only limited negative consequences in the person's life.

2. SOCIAL: Whether it's a legal six-pack at a party, an illegal joint with a friend, or a couple of hits of shabu at home, with recreational use, the person does seek out a drug and does want to experience a certain effect, but there is no established pattern. The drug use is irregular, infrequent, and has a relatively small impact on the person's life. Social use is therefore distinguished from experimental use by the establishment of a drug-seeking behavior.

3. HABITUAL: With Habitual use, there is a definite pattern of use: the TGIF (Thank God It's Friday) High, the 6 cups of coffee every day, or the ½ gram of shabu every weekend. No matter what happens that day or that weekend, the person will still use that drug. As long as it does not affect that person's life in a really negative way, it could be called habituation. This level of use clearly demonstrates that one has lost some control of the use of the drug. Regardless of how frequently or infrequently a drug is used, a definite pattern of use indicates that the craving for the drug is now starting to control the user.

4. ABUSE: Drug abuse is the continued use of a drug despite negative consequences. Such as; the use of shabu despite high blood pressure and lung problems; an alcoholic still drinking despite his diabetes and development of an alcoholic heart; the two pack a day smoker with emphysema. No matter how often a person uses a drug, if negative consequences develop in relationships, social life, finances, legal status, health, work, school or emotional well-being and the dug use continues on a regular basis, then that behavior could be classified as drug abuse.

5. DEPENDENCE/ADDICTION: The step between abuse and addiction has to do with compulsion. If users:
* spend most of their time either using, getting, or thinking about the drug;
* continue to use in spite of negative life and health consequences, mental or physical;
* often deny there's a problem or claim that they can stop anytime they want; and
* after withdrawal, still have a string tendency to relapse and start using again; then that can be classified as addiction. The users have lost control of their use of drugs and those substances have become the most important things in their lives.

After learning these facts from my own treatment for addiction to drugs, I better understood what was happening to me and that I had to make some drastic changes in my lifestyle. But I would never have realized this if I was not in an in-patient treatment program where I could not just get up and run away from my problems. For more information please contact us at 231-5229 or 233-1881. Or better yet visit us at Recovery House, Sanson Road Ext., Lahug, Cebu City.