Albranie, Your beliefs of heroin addicts are quite similar to my own; that once you’re addicted to heroin, it would be impossible to get clean. However, basing this on my experience with my uncle, I found out that this was not the case at all. Sure it was a struggle not only for him but for us as well. Once we realized that it was ok to say no to him any time he begged us for money and that we were doing it because we loved him not because we wanted to see him fail, things began to change. It took almost ten years of being in and out of rehab facilities, prison and seeing him look like death was knocking at his door, but he finally made it to what we in our family like to call, “clean living.” He still shows some side effects from being a
Active addicts may claim that rehabilitation doesn’t work or that it only works while you are there, but as soon as you leave you re dragged back into that pit of addiction. The parents of people who have passed away because of drug related incidents may think that we shouldn’t be sympathising with them, because they have chosen to throw their life away and their child’s life was taken away without warning and without any fault of their own. The Government may feel that they are providing a lot of free support for recovering addicts and have been cracking down on the
Perhaps it gets to be too big of a task before them to be rid of drugs completely, but whatever the reason, more heroin users will stay in treatment if it involves using methadone or another medication.
Bruce Brandler is a man who lost his son to heroin. Brandler says in an article by the Los Angeles Times, “I want to evaporate the myth that heroin addicts are just homeless derelicts, this epidemic hit’s everyone… I think my situation exemplifies that.”. I think what Brandler meant by this is many people have a certain image in their minds when they think about heroin addicts. This image is often wrong simply because heroin addicts are now the people right in front of us. When society expects all addicts to fit one description it often overlooks those that need
People should know what they are getting themselves in if they are going to choose to go through this bumpy road in life. There are so many consequences that can come from heroin so make sure you are ready to face them. You are harming yourself and the people around you so make sure you inform yourself on what can come from heroin.
Working at quitting is the only way to be able to not be addicted anymore. Pain killers are the choice of drug for some of these people. It starts off with an injury causing them to need the pain killers, then they get addicted. Then people move onto heroin after pain killers because there both opiates. “It’s important for addicts to know they are not alone”. I believe that is so
When I was 14 years old, my father died of a drug overdose, after spending his life struggling with the disease,. I took care of my niece while my sister was heavily using. I fought with her for years to get sober. Then I found her in a bathroom unconscious, with no pulse, and a needle still stuck in her arm. I gave her C.P.R. for nearly 13 minutes until the paramedics’ arrived. They explained to me that if I had stopped giving her C.P.R., they would have never been able to revive her. In addition to them, I have several other family members and friends that also struggle with addiction. I have watched them try to get, and stay, sober. I have seen the control that addition has over them, and felt the way it affects everyone around them. I have watched the financial burden they cause their families, and our community.
It is documented that a quarter of people who try heroin will become addicted. Do not become part of that statistic. The only way to avoid addiction to heroin is to abstain from the drug. Heroin affects all of us. Whether you know of someone who is addicted or not, this is a national epidemic that raises health care costs and taxes to imprison convicted drug dealers and users. This drug is detrimental to our society. Please join me in taking a stand against heroin. Make the conscientious decision to abstain from taking the drug. If you, or someone you know, is struggling with drug addiction or is tempted to try heroin, seek support groups and rehabilitation centers for professional help. We are the only ones who can protect ourselves and our loved ones. Act now before it is too late for you or someone you
Substance abuse disorders are common in our society. It is a disorder that each one of us will most likely experience through a family member, friend, or our self. I felt very drawn to this topic due to the fact that I have a family that has background of substance abuse and I myself have battle the demon. Not until I struggled with my own addiction did I become more tolerable and understanding to those that have a substance abuse disorder. Substance abuse is not something anyone wants to have; it is a disorder that takes control of a person’s life. It is a beast that tears a person apart; from their being to the lives of their loved ones. This disorder is not biased in anyway; rich or poor, male or female, employed or unemployed, young or
I don’t let anybody to call him as an addict in front of me as well. When I saw him after four years last holiday, I had more sympathy for him than ever. I used to fight with him in order to make him to change his habit. His excuse was that he works so hard and long hours everyday and the opium helps him to be more energetic and keeps up with his work. However, I used to think that it was only about his weakness. I always looked at his addiction as his weakness, so in my core belief addiction comes from the person’s lack of coping skills especially with reality of the life or even being lazy to risk and try new things in life. All these beliefs made me to have ambivalent feeling toward person with addiction and even my father. Although I love my father and I believe he works so hard to support his family, I denied his job, as a taxi driver and his addiction for most of my life. I never talked about my father’s job in front of others, because in my culture it means you are poor and belong to low socioeconomic status, and then my embarrassment when others see him and recognized his
Although, there are many efforts to reduce the stigma of addiction, false concepts among individuals still persist. Many individuals may describe drug addicts as “people who are morally weak and cannot control their impulses”, or simply just “people who cannot get their life together”. Such misconceptions suggesting that
On my arrival in the United Kingdom from my native Zimbabwe, I had my first meeting with an individual with a serious heroin addiction when I found myself sharing a flat in an emergency accommodation at the Lady Beck Close in Leeds. Things went missing in the flat and I could not understand what happening until the person responsible was offered to speak to me. He apologised for the theft of my property but explained at length the serious problem with substance misuse that he had and how he would do anything to feed his habit. He went on to tell me how he dropped from University where he was studying dentistry after drugs took a toll on his life. He said has tried and was still trying everything to stop but cannot despite the care, support and help he received from so many professionals.
It tends to be difficult for people to admit that they have a problem. Even when someone realizes that they struggle with addiction, it can be overwhelming and frightening to take the step necessary to make a change and overcome the addiction. As a result, many people simply maintain the status quo, even if it makes them and their loved ones unhappy.
There are overpowering amounts of different stereotypes that are brought to mind when thinking about people who are dependent on heroin or drugs in general. The majority of these stereotypes make negatively connoted and make assumptions about lifestyles that include substance abuse. One might think that people who abuse substances are typically deviants and don’t engage in society like the rest of the population. They embody different values to mainstream society: skirting the edges, being unemployed and victims of bad upbringings, high
We all have a family member, or close friend that has become addicted to one drug or another. A silent robber at first, and then it progresses into something much worse. They become someone else are no longer themselves anymore. They begin to lie, steal and doing whatever is necessary to feed their addiction. All limits are gone, they are willing to do the unthinkable to feed their addiction. They do whatever they need to get their next fix because their body is craving the drug. They go through withdrawals that makes them ill in ways that only a person
I know a girl named Katie. She is not a drug addict. She is a wife, a mother, a positive part of our community. But before she was happily married, before she was lovingly called Mommy, she was addicted to heroin. Her friends were all addicts and many died. She stopped breathing once too, when she was 21 years old. Her boyfriend gave her CPR. She was even arrested; court mandated outpatient counseling, once a week for three months, NA meetings, one year probation. It did nothing for her. She drank the whole time. The traditional treatments used to treat drug and alcohol addiction was not effective then, nor is it effective now, for the new generation of drug addicts.