Forced Into Addiction

According to Martin Finucane of the Boston Globe, “Boston University announced Monday that it was revoking the honorary degree awarded to entertainer Bill Cosby in May 2014.”  Aside from the ethics, and integrities that Boston University is proudly displaying in its decision to no longer support Cosby in any way, this story also reminds us that not all addicts are personally responsible for their addictions, at least not in the beginning anyway.

How easy it is for many of us to condemn and point fingers at the addict or the junkie, as addicts are sometimes referred to, and how easy it is for us to exclude “junkies” from “acceptable” society.  Our condemnation and exclusion of them leaves them little to no room to be re-accepted into society at any point after their fallout, and most of us never think twice about it.  Where our tabloids, movies, and even our music usually depicts the addict as someone who was at one point or another of sound mind who willingly and knowingly chose to ingest drugs, we reason that there is no reason to cut them any slack.

Bill Cosby and his high profile/high profile cases definitely brought significant focus and attention to the injustices of unwilling and unknowing victims being drugged and violated, but this is only one man and one scenario.  There are still multitudes more of instances where innocent and sober victims are unknowingly drugged and forced into a world that they may have never known otherwise.  These victims suffer through mental, physical, and sexual violations.  They suffer through the fragmented memories that come with the aftermath of having ingested an unknown drug, and they suffer the shame and disgust that comes with being forced against your will to do anything you wouldn’t have done had you had the sober ability of choice.

Imagine waking up knowing that you yourself hadn’t taken any drugs but you are groggy and experiencing flashbacks of the overpowering of an attacker.  You look at yourself and see clothing in disarray, and your body, well, your body speaks for itself and it tells you that things were done that you never consented to.  If whatever drug or drugs that you were given didn’t cause an instant desire to want to ingest them again, then the shame, disgust, despair, and or anger that comes with being violated will surely call for something to ease the pain; it will call for drugs and alcohol in distraught attempts to erase the memories of a forced violation.

I’m not saying that this is an acceptable reason to be an addict, and I’m not saying that this or any reason is acceptable reasoning behind doing drugs and or becoming addicted to them, but I am saying that every addict has a story, and a reason as to why they do what they do.  I can understand how such devastatingly painful memories would call for any and all help to numb them, and I can understand why only mind altering substances can actually do that. 

Is Ativan really addictive?

Ativan is a prescription drug commonly used to treat anxiety disorders. I myself have taken Ativan when I fly, because I am a very nervous flyer. I have been taking a low dose of Ativan every time I fly for the past three years, so when I heard that Ativan is a commonly abused prescription drug, I was shocked. Because this is a medication that I actually take, I wanted to find out if this drug really is addictive.

The short answer is, yes, Ativan is addictive, but not necessarily in the way you might think. Those who take Ativan for an anxiety disorder, or someone like me who takes a low dose in order to get on a plane, are not likely to become addicted to Ativan. Someone with a severe anxiety disorder that requires a high dose of Ativan might become dependent on it, but a dependency on a drug is not the same thing as an addiction. Dependency on a drug is a physical need for the drug, and is easier to treat than an addiction, because an addiction requires a psychological dependence. 

The most common group to become addicted to Ativan are people who have a history of substance abuse problems. Ativan is not commonly prescribed for people with substance abuse problems, so they would not be getting it from a doctor. Those who abuse Ativan generally do not take the drug the way it is intended. Like most pills, Ativan is something you swallow and dissolves, releasing medicine over time. In order to abuse Ativan and receive an immediate reaction from it, an addict would crush, snort, chew or even inject Ativan into their system.

The bottom line is that like almost any drug, it is possible to become addicted to Ativan. The important thing to remember is that Ativan is safe, if it is used properly, based on a doctors directions. So while it may be something you can get addicted to, Ativan is not as dangerous as many of the illegal substances abused today. 

Heroin is the worst drug

There are many different drugs that are used and abused in the United States. Heroin is one of the more common severe drugs a person can become addicted to. But what exactly makes heroin such a bad drug? Heroin changes the make up of your brain. Prolonged use of the drug can cause dramatic personality changes, anti-social behaviors and severe mental and physical sluggishness. Once an addict is hooked on heroin, it becomes their entire life. The lose who they were before the drug, by shutting out all loved ones and obsessing about when they will get their next fix. But the more heroin you use, the more you need to feel the "high" you want. This is how an addict overdoses on heroin.

I have seen first hand what a heroin addiction can do to a person. When I was growing up, I had a cousin, who I idolized and adored. If I wanted to play at a family gathering, he would drop whatever he was doing and do what I wanted to do. Then, he became a father. He absolutely loved being a dad. Then, he became addicted to heroin. As far as my family knows, he struggled with this addiction for at least seven months, but it could have been even longer. He stopped showing up at family gatherings. He started stealing money from family. He could no longer put his attention on his child. And then, his addiction killed him, right after his child's first birthday. If heroin had not gotten a hold on him, he would still be here.

Heroin is a horrible drug. It destroys people and families, but there is a glimmer of hope. I was a child when my cousin died, and in the entire time he fought his addiction, I never once saw him high. He knew I idolized him and he knew what seeing him like that would do to me. There was enough of the person I knew inside of him, that he still put family first. That one little fact shows me that having a heroin addiction does not mean a person has to die. You just have to help them find themselves again.

Florida Doctors– Conductors of the Oxy Train Ride From Hell

No state in our country has a more critical oxycodone epidemic than the state of Florida. On average, doctors in this state prescribe 10 times more oxycodone medications than any other state combined.

It seems as though the reasoning behind this easy access to powerful painkillers lies in the fact that there is minimal to no monitoring of these types of prescriptions. The Governor of Florida believes that monitoring would be a waste of money and an invasion of privacy.

What the governor is failing to realize is that oxycodone is one of the most powerful and addictive pain medications on the market today. It is called by many as “hillbilly heroin” because of how psychologically addictive the drug is and how negatively the body reacts when someone decides to try and quit using.

But the real criminals reside in the doctors who freely prescribe these drugs in the first place. The criminal activity revolves around the doctors themselves and their lack of responsibility to conduct background checks on their patients. They have a responsibility to refuse to prescribe this drug to patients who clearly don’t need it or do not understand the harsh side effects of oxycodone.

Openly willing to prescribe oxycodone to (usually) young adults allows these patients to get immediately hooked on these drugs and to visit the doctors on a weekly basis for more drugs. The doctors don’t seem to care about how negatively it affects their patients. And why should they? The patients that keep coming back are paying very high prices and this in turn gives the doctors a nice little payday at the end of their workday.

These doctors are nothing more than drug dealers with degrees. Florida’s governor needs to take a closer look at this epidemic and start to promote safer regulations before it is too late.

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/02/134143813/the-oxy-express-floridas-drug-abuse-epidemic

Josh Gordon is the Victim of a Flawed NFL System

In the 2013 NFL season, Josh Gordon was considered to be one of the best wide receivers in the game. His 87 receptions and 1,646 receiving yards were among the tops in the league. This included a banner day 10 catches for 151 yards against my beloved New England Patriots.

Two years later, he is currently watching NFL football games from his couch.

His suspension history started in 2013 when he violated the NFL’s substance abuse policy by testing positive for marijuana. The following season, he violated the NFL’s substance abuse policy by testing positive for marijuana for a second time and received a ten game suspension. Finally, Gordon received a one-year suspension in 2015 due to testing positive for alcohol use. He received a one-year suspension on the grounds of a “repeat offender” clause that is written in the NFL player and owner labor agreement.

Josh Gordon is the victim of a backwards logic that is the NFL and their rule making. The NFL remains to view marijuana as a dangerous drug that has high risk for abuse, even though states such as Colorado and Washington have outright legalized the product for recreational and medicinal usage.

On the flip side there is a man by the name of Greg Hardy. In 2014, this NFL defensive lineman was found guilty (in court, nonetheless) of assaulting his ex-girlfriend and was sentenced to 18 months in prison along with a ten game suspension by the NFL. After his girlfriend dropped the charges, the NFL decided to reduce his suspension to only six games.

How can the NFL look in the mirror with any sort of good consciousness after allowing a convicted woman beater to only serve a six game suspension? And at the same time, suspend a player who enjoys smoking a joint every once in a while ten games? The NFL Legality is completely and utterly flawed.

High Functioning Alcoholism

High functioning alcoholism is different than regular alcoholism. People who are considered high functioning are typically able to hide their addiction, maintain relationships with family, friends, and coworkers, and also complete daily tasks such as work or school. In other words, a high functioning alcoholic is the alcoholic who doesn’t look like one at all.

In order to help high functioning alcoholics we must first know how to spot them. While there are many symptoms or signs of abuse, some are harder to recognize than others.

Signs:

Black out and memory loss

Extreme remorse when caught drinking

Family history

Hiding or sneaking drinking

Impulsively or emotionally driven

Mental disorders such as anxiety/ADD/ADHD

Obsession with alcohol

Self reward systems

Surrounds self with friends who also drink

Once we have recognized that a loved one or someone close to us displays many of those signs it is our responsibility to help them. Without our help that person will continue the vicious cycle that is high functioning alcoholism.

Actions to Help:

Let them know that drinking not only hurts them but also the people who love them

Provide facts and feelings when confronting them

Share drinking assessment tools and tips to help them cope

Intervention

Professional help

High functioning alcoholism is just as dangerous as alcoholism that is out in the open. Just because someone is able to hide their addiction and go about their business does not mean that they are okay. It does not mean that everything is okay.

It is our job to try and help those people as best we can. Without us they will continue to be lost with a secret addiction.

The Stigma of Suicide

Statistics tend to tell a story. They are proof of realities. Unfortunately, not all statistics tell happy tales.

•        Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-24.

•         Suicide is the second leading cause of death for college aged youth across the country.

•         More teens die from suicide than cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease – COMBINED.

So why is it that we don’t talk about it? Why is suicide consistently swept under the rug? Why do we, as a society, not have open lines of communication when it comes to depression and suicide?

The answer is a simple one: we are scared.

It is easier to ignore suicide than it is to talk about it. Many people cannot comprehend why someone would take their own life. They cannot get into the head of people who are suffering. They cannot feel what they are feeling. Because of that, they often times dismiss the issue entirely. And in doing so, those people are only adding to the problem.

We need to talk about it.

Having conversations, creating dialogue, and working through the problem can only help.

Sure, suicide isn’t a happy topic. And yes, it is an extremely sensitive, difficult thing for most to address. But telling loved ones, or anyone who is struggling with depression, how you feel might just be able to save their life.

“I do not want you to kill yourself.”

"If you do this we will ALL be forced to live without you.”

“Suicide is a selfish way out.”

Sentences like those carry a tremendous amount of weight. They are difficult to say and difficult to hear. But they are important. They are extremely important.

As a society, we need to face the stigma of suicide head on. We need to be open and honest. We need to stop catering to the elephant in the room and instead face our fears by talking about it.

Suicide is not a scary word.

Goodbye is.

#MakeHappyHappen 

Recovery: A Holistic Approach

In the word of addiction, and in the mind of addicts, things usually play out like this:

Drugs are fun.

And addicting.

Recovery is not fun.

And easy to give up on.

The road to recovery is not one that people generally look forward to. It is long, painful, and can leave a trail of heartbreak in its wake. Because of this, it is important to approach recovery in a holistic way.

What Is Holistic Recovery

According to Google, holistic is characterized by the treatment of the whole person, taking into account mental and social factors, rather than just the physical symptoms of the disease.

Addiction affects the addicts whole being. It doesn’t just attack one aspect of a person’s life. Instead, it is a complete illness. It affects an addict biologically, psychologically, socially, and emotionally.  In that way, addiction acts as a virus, getting into every corner of the users life.

How To Recover Holistically

Brian McAlister, a contributing writer to addicitonblog.org, says that he began using the holistic approach to recovery because of a conversation he had with an ‘old timer’ who had been an addict in his younger years. That old timer told McAlister that in order to fight his addiction he needed to change just one thing: EVERYTHING.

Instead of using medication to fight addiction, the user should instead invest time in changing himself or herself as a person. If they can change their habits, life style choices, and thought process, they can then challenge their addiction head on. The holistic approach is about developing skills to handle life’s challenges and not merely ‘treating’ the addiction.

Aspects of Holistic Recovery

Physical:

A recovering addict feels SO much better physically after only a week or two of not using the drug or substance that plagues them. However, that is an extremely vulnerable moment in the recovery process. It is important for the user to not fall back in the trap of drugs simply because they feel better.

Emotional:

Newly sober people can have trouble facing emotions without self-medicating. For that reason, it is important for the user to engage in addiction recovery communities.

Examples: 12-step programs, meetings, therapists.

Mental:

Anger, stress, and fear can often times lead to relapse. The addict must learn to deal with these mental ailments in order to fight the urge to use. There are simple tricks that can be used to combat such feelings.

Examples: Exercise, yoga, creativity (reading, writing, drawing), tactical breathing.

Spiritual:

Many users find salvation in faith. Prayer and meditation is a healthy way to combat addiction.

Stability:

Once the addict is on the road to sobriety and has ceased use of the drug or substance that has taken control of their life, it is important to find stability. Financial, locational, and even material stability are keys to maintaining sobriety. Think of it like a house: you can’t put up the walls until you have made a solid foundation. The same goes for sobriety. You can’t begin a new life unless there is a sense of stability.

Marijuana and Schizophrenia

As far as drugs go, we usually think of marijuana as the tamer of the group. It has a low addiction potential and there is less of a chance of overdosing. However, in the long run, marijuana can be very harmful to one of our most important organs. The brain. Now, affects on the brain happen after long periods of time, with large amounts of marijuana in a persons body, so this does not affect the casual user of marijuana. The affect on the brain is more of an issue with habitual users of marijuana.

Taken in large quantities, marijuana can have an affect on certain mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia. In most cases, it will only enhance a preexisting condition, however, sometimes marijuana can actually cause a person to develop these conditions. This is because large amounts of marijuana cause an excess release of dopamine in the brains hippocampus, which affects mainly sensory perception. This can lead to short term affects, such as hallucinations, as well as the long term affect of schizophrenia. 

The bottom line is that your brain is not something to mess with. Using marijuana occasionally will most likely not have a huge affect on your body and brain. It is the long term affects you need to worry about. Before you make the decision to smoke, think about how much it will affect your brain afterwards.

Why I choose not to smoke marijuana

It seems like today everyone has an opinion on marijuana. My personal choice is not to use marijuana in any capacity. The following are a list of my personal reasons for why I do not smoke. 

1. I have asthma, so me inhaling smoke of any kind is a very bad idea.

2. I lost a family member to drug overdose as a child (not marijuana), and that turned me away from any drugs period.

3. I do not like the smell.

4. I do not like not being in control of my own thoughts and actions. This is also why I choose not to drink too much. I am kind of a control freak and I do not wish to lose control of myself. 

5. In the long run, smoking anything is bad for your lungs.

6. Smoking marijuana has many long term affects to brain chemistry and other bodily functions. 

7. It is illegal. 

This post is not an attack on smokers. This is merely a list that explains my thought process and how I came to the decision not to smoke. What I want this post to do is to make people think about their own decision to or not to smoke marijuana. Doing any kind of drug is not a decision you should make just because other people do it. Before you smoke, learn what exactly you taking and what it can do to your body. There is nothing wrong with deciding to smoke, as long as your decision is educated. 

Immunity to Drug Abuse: Resilience

Do you ever wonder why some people become addicted to drugs, and others, who most would assume to be doomed to follow in the disastrous footsteps of a related addict, don’t?  There are definitely all types of scientific answers about ones’ chemistry, and whether or not heredity contributes, but I’m no scientist, and science isn’t always the right answer.  Resilience is the immunity, it is the reason why a select few don’t become drug addicts even when the odds are stacked up against them.

Imagine growing up in a home where your primary, well lets up the stakes, where your only caretaker (single parent home) is a drug addict, and of course you live in what is considered to be a less than desirable community (I’m being politically correct here), in a less than appealing apartment, and you are pretty much home alone all the time from the age of 5 onward.  What do you think the child’s odds are of not becoming a product of his or her environment?  Most statistics, if not all of them, say that the odds are pretty low that a child subjected to this type of environment will make it out alive, let alone drug free.

So what’s the difference between me, and you, and her, and him, pretty much any and all who may have been or are being subjected to an environment littered with misery, defeat, depression, and drugs?  Resilience is the difference, it always is, always was, and always will be, even before we know what it is.  I’m sure that the child spending birthdays home alone, or pretty much doing everything and anything important and monumental with absolutely no familial support whatsoever, doesn’t know what resilience is, but I’m also sure that tomorrow he’ll go to school and he’ll smile, he’ll laugh, and he’ll play as if all is well with the world, because something in him knows that there is something better somewhere, and the show will and must go on.

As defined by Google, “Resilience is the ability to roll with the punches. When stress, adversity or trauma strikes, you still experience anger, grief and pain, but you're able to keep functioning — both physically and psychologically”.  I don’t know if you’re born with it, or if you develop it over time, and to be honest who really cares so long as you have it.  Let’s teach it to the children who are being neglected and abused, let’s teach it to those who are subjected to drug addicted environments, and let’s just teach it to everyone for no reason at all other than to teach people how to never give up, no matter what.

Vaccinations mandated from birth up to and even throughout college work by creating within us immunities to potentially life threatening diseases,  so why not mandate the readily available immunity to drug abuse; resilience?  Drug abuse is very life threatening, and teaching resilience can eradicate it.

Resilience, did you get your dose today? 

Drugs, Drugs . . . Everywhere

Drugs . . . we see them here, we see them there, and we see them everywhere.  I’ve just had an epiphany!  Dr. Seuss never really meant “green eggs and ham”, he meant drugs.  Ok that is completely my personal opinion, however it is a story that can undoubtedly be compared to that of the challenge that younger people face when first introduced to drugs today.

How often have you heard these tales of peer pressure?  You know the ones about the innocent good boys and girls who refuse over and over again to try the thing that looks bad, smells bad, and will most likely taste bad, yet they tire of the fight, and they give in to the pressure, and they think to themselves, “Nothing horrible will happen if I just try it”.  Then boom, it happens . . . they’re hooked.

In an instant they go from I will not ever, no matter what, to I love this always, I should have tried it sooner.  How can we possibly fight a war on something that makes people believe that they are all the better for it?  How do we take away the only happiness that some people will ever get, especially when it is always so readily available, affordable, and accessible?

 All around us, all around the world, and even here at home, wherever home might be, we see drugs, we hear about drugs, we smell them, taste them, live by them, and we even live because of them, so how do we live without them?  The simple, realistic answer is, “we can’t, and we won’t”, so now I think it’s time that we teach our youth, since they are destined to outlive us, how to be happy without drugs; how to live, in every literal and metaphorical meaning of the word, without wanting and needing drugs, even if they are around.

No more enticing, no more tempting, and no more promise of false and temporary happiness.  Life is what it is, and you have to feel all the bad and sad in order to truly appreciate the good and wonderful.  A temporary state of euphoria or escape from reality is no solution nor can it be compared to the sober feelings of true Eden like happiness.  I will not try your drugs dear old Sam, no matter what you offer, I am better just as I am!

Molly: A Silent Killer

Damn I hate being sober, I’m a smoker

Fredo a drinker, Tadoe off molly water

- Chief Keef  “Hate Bein’ Sober”

I’m the life of the party

Let’s get these hoes on that molly

- French Montana and Rick Ross “Pop That”

- Tyga “Molly”

The club drug molly has become a fixture in the rap and electronic music communities over the past decade. Countless references to the drug are tossed around in songs all over the Internet and airwaves. The glamorization of molly by artists may lead many to believe that the drug is all fun and games.

That couldn’t be further from the truth.

What is “molly”?

Molly is the street name for MDMA or ecstasy. It is one of the purest forms of the drug and is used by the ‘rave community’ and often associated with electronic dance music.

Despite the information presented to us by 21^st century philosophers such as Chief Keef, molly is not something to mess around with. In fact, the drug has serious adverse affects on the body. The drug interferes with users heart rates, blood pressure, and body temperature. It also causes immense sweating and speeds up the dehydration process.

The use of molly has skyrocketed in recent years, so much so that the DEA has taken notice. Operation X-Out was put into motion by the federal government to combat the club drug movement by increasing education and enforcement. While it is certainly a step in the right direction, the movement has done little to negate the widespread use of the drug.

According to the Drug Abuse Warning Network, the number of visits to United States emergency rooms involving MDMA have increased an amazing 123% since 2004. What is even more alarming is that in 2011 there were over 22,000 such visits.

Unfortunately, the danger does not end at hospital visits. MDMA overdoses have become more and more common with each passing year. We need to educate today's youth about the risk of club drugs, and specifically molly, before its too late.