Why do people do this to themselves? (Drugs)

[Seshat]

http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...d.php?t=106534

I found myself really wanting to reply to the above thread, but the bits I want to reply to have become a Fratching topic, so here I am....

Several people expressed that they don't understand why people take 'recreational' and/or illegal drugs. Bast has known several addicts, in part because she was in a group for disadvantaged people that put a wide group of such people together - including mental health patients and drug addicts. (She's mentally ill.) She has also known mentally ill people who were also drug addicts, from many times in hospitals.


So here are some reasons.

Self-Medication
To 'self-medicate' mental health conditions: basically, to make the mental pain endurable, or balance out delusions, or make hallucinations go away, or make hallucinations make sense: there are as many ways that self-medicating with street psychoactives as there are psychological symptoms.
Why would anyone do that instead of seeing a psychologist/psychiatrist?
- it can be prohibitively expensive to see a psychologist or psychiatrist. Even in Australia with socialised medicine, most psychiatrists insist on patients paying them (then getting a Medicare rebate) rather than the doctor charging Medicare. I don't know about you, but I don't have a spare $300 to pay someone up front.
- it can be shameful to have a mental condition.
- it can be harmful to be officially recorded as having a mental condition - yes, even now. Discrimination against the mentally ill does happen, and even among people who should know better (such as medical people).
- some medical conditions include problems such as paranoia, making the patient less likely to believe that doctors can help them.
- they might not believe they have a mental condition; they just know that when they take (street drug) they feel better.
- medical treatment for mental conditions is usually very slow; (street drug) makes them feel better right now.

Escape from intolerable circumstances
Suffering can cause people to want escape, especially short term escape.
Victims of abuse, tragedy or trauma are particularly prone to failing to see good solutions, and thus having only a collection of bad answers to their problems.
Patients with severe pain, especially those who are not getting adequate help from the medical community (or who perceive themselves that way) are highly vulnerable to the temptation to seek street-drug help. Those who are not able to understand the complexity of drug interaction, or desperate enough not to care about the risks to their long term health, are the most easily tempted.
People in chronic poverty can seek to escape awareness of it, especially if they've given up hope of ever getting out of poverty.



Noone ever makes the decision 'I'm going to do what's totally worst for me'.
Some people have a lot of difficulty with delayed gratification and thus seek instant solutions, which means they can make really bad decisions out of impatience.
Some are simply unable to perceive good solutions which others can see (this is especially true of people with some mental illnesses, but everyone is prone to it).
Some people genuinely don't know about good options which are available to them.
Some people kid themselves about the downsides of the options they're interested in.



I'm not saying we can ever completely rid ourselves of those who take recreational drugs out of sheer decadence. I think those people will always be with us. But there are people who fall prey to the temptation of street drugs for reasons which we, as a society (or cluster of societies) can choose to solve.

[fireheart17]

Don't forget that in some cases, people do it to escape from the physical pain (ie marijuana or morphine).
I know some people who have gotten hold of marijuana (in Australia) and used it for medicinal purposes because nothing else will help. Marijuana growing, selling or possession of commercial quantities is illegal in Aussieland, while possession varies.

[crashhelmet]

You completely forgot the part about peer pressure and social acceptance.

There are a large number of people that start doing drugs, drinking alcohol, and/or smoking cigarettes because their friends and/or loved ones do.

Some even start them to get their foot into the door of a social circle they wish to be a part of.

[Greenday]

You completely forgot the part about peer pressure and social acceptance.

There are a large number of people that start doing drugs, drinking alcohol, and/or smoking cigarettes because their friends and/or loved ones do.

Some even start them to get their foot into the door of a social circle they wish to be a part of.

Doing it to be cool or accepted is ridiculous. It's what my cousin did and he drugged himself stupid. Now he's a bipolar drug addict who can get very violent and refuses help (Except for government handouts).

[TheHuckster]

Doing it to be cool or accepted is ridiculous. It's what my cousin did and he drugged himself stupid. Now he's a bipolar drug addict who can get very violent and refuses help (Except for government handouts).

Yeah, it's a shame some people think that a.) Those people are the people they really want to hang out with and b.) They (apparently) think there's no other way to be accepted by others.

Drug addiction and abuse affects a wide array of people, too and doesn't affect just one demographic. Young people, old people, rich people, poor people, people who have no friends, people who have many friends, janitors, doctors, rock stars, engineers, clerks, mayors... and the number one reason seems to have to do with having gone through an extremely stressful point in their lives, whether it's money problems, spousal/romantic problems, or just plain being overworked.

[siead_lietrathua]

i can get people taking some types of drugs to self medicate.
i can get taking some types of drugs for fun.
i will never, ever, ever understand what could make a person take Kroc.
no high can be worth your skin rotting off.
*shudder*

[fireheart17]

You completely forgot the part about peer pressure and social acceptance.

There are a large number of people that start doing drugs, drinking alcohol, and/or smoking cigarettes because their friends and/or loved ones do.

Some even start them to get their foot into the door of a social circle they wish to be a part of.

I know one kid who was part of this. He'd moved to a Steiner school from a public school and it showed. While he wasn't rude or disrespectful to the staff by any means, he did often display anti-social behaviour to the other children and to school property. His buddies were all the actual "bad kids" (ie the ones who skip school, do drugs, vandalise property etc). He was raised in a good home environment, albeit with some issues around his dad being sick or absent for long periods for health reasons. He also had a learning disability and was very self-conscious about it.

AS a result,he tried to play up the bad ass image by bullying one of the students and damaging school property. The crux of his bad behaviour (at least while I was there) was the marijuana incident.
Basically, he'd gotten hold of a small amount of marijuana. He then brought it to school and showed it off. While he was smart enough not to do it in front of teachers, he was dumb enough to bring it to school in the first place. A couple of his classmates were concerned about HIM and alerted the teacher. Situation went on from there and he was suspended and cautioned by the police. He returned the first week back after the holidays.

A little bit more chatting between the staff and a couple of the kids however, revealed that he hated the school and wanted to be back with his buddies. This eventually turned out to be that he felt self-conscious that he was being singled out for extra support and felt more like he "fit in" with his skater park buddies.
Unfortunately he left the school the year after I had my prac there and I haven't heard hide or hair of him since. (I know that his mother did NOT want him going to the local high school as that was where he had come from in the first place)

[Mr. Anubite]

You completely forgot the part about peer pressure and social acceptance.

There are a large number of people that start doing drugs, drinking alcohol, and/or smoking cigarettes because their friends and/or loved ones do.

Some even start them to get their foot into the door of a social circle they wish to be a part of.

Yup yup. I never experienced peer pressure around drugs in grade school, but now that I'm at university, I lost a lot of friends for refusing to do drugs. I used to think of peer pressure as being really insignificant, but I learned that it really is a big deal, even for adults.

[SkullKing]

I will never, ever, ever understand what could make a person take Kroc.

from what I understand Kroc addicts are very rare, rather people who have a severe addiction to heroine and can´t get any, turn to kroc, because they are already in withdrawal and past thinking anymore. and most times when I kroc addict gets access to heroin, he will go back to heroin.

[SkullKing]

The biggest instance of people drugging themselves I saw was with prescription drugs, specifically ADD medication in order to study better.

This was in a extremely good and tough engineering school, and the students had a lot riding on the results of tests.

[siead_lietrathua]

from what I understand Kroc addicts are very rare, rather people who have a severe addiction to heroine and can´t get any, turn to kroc, because they are already in withdrawal and past thinking anymore. and most times when I kroc addict gets access to heroin, he will go back to heroin.

it's becoming a very big issue in he cities near me. enough that first aid course leaders even tell us about it as a big example to always wear gloves because you never know where a wound could be from.
one of the worst cases around here i heard of was a guy that spent a couple days hitting it hard. rot around every major injection site by the time he went for medical help. *shudder*
with kroc, it doesn't take many uses to compleatly fuck a person up.

[patiokitty]

I am a drug addict. No, I am not currently taking anything other than my prescribed meds at the prescribed dosages. However, 17 years ago I managed to escape the mighty clutches of cocaine.

Why did I start in the first place? I was stupid. And looking for a way to escape. And for a way to stay awake for all the things I had to get done in a day. I was a single parent, a f/t college student, and a f/t cook. My boyfriend was, as I discovered the hard way, a dealer. Guess where I got my coke from?

I used to be of the mind that I'd try anything once. Yes, even when my son was young. I did mention that I was stupid, right?

I should mention that it was not my first foray into drug usage. I was heavily into pot and hash for the last two years of high school. I dropped acid once and had a horror trip, never touched it again. Drank like a fish in order to numb a lot of the emotional and mental pain I was in.

It was all a way to try to wash away the shit that was my existence. I had already attempted suicide three times prior to even starting high school and I figured that if I couldn't kill myself directly, let's do something else. Yeah, I probably should have been in therapy ages before any of that but my mother could not see beyond her own desires. And the one time she did drag me off to a psychiatrist I baffled him with bullshit and he told my mother there was nothing wrong with me - I did not want to be there and I hated my mother for everything. Everything wrong with her life was my fault, but I did not tell the shrink that. Instead I painted us as a perfect family and I was just rebelling like any other kid. Even that was a form of rebellion because my mother didn't get the satisfaction of being able to tell her bingo buddies that I was just another fucked up kid. Nope. But drugs were always available to me and I took them.

When I found out I was pregnant I quit everything cold turkey. Pot and hash aren't that bad to stop, and I'd quit taking whatever pills were shoved at me. My main addictions at that point were cigarettes and caffeine. And I quit them both on the day I found out I was pregnant.

I was good for the first three years of my son's life. Nothing illegal, and I was careful with any prescriptions I was given. I always took them like I was supposed to. But I did start smoking again, but I was good and smoked outside, never near my son. Fuck, was I ever depressed and lonely though. And I lived in my parents' basement suite - close enough for my mother to continue with her bullshit about how rotten I was, blah blah blah. It really did a number on my self-esteem, let me tell you. And when I made friends with a fellow single mother who moved in across the street, I was pretty easily convinced to start drinking and drugging again. Only pot...laced with whatever. Woo! Life was better even though it took me more booze and pot to stay happy.

And then I decided to go to college not long after my son turned four. It was hard to do everything, and I was in a position where I couldn't quit my job in order to focus on school, nor could I quit school - Welfare threatened to cut me off if I didn't do it all at the same time. During this time I met a guy and we started dating. I did not have much free time but I somehow managed it, and was lucky enough to have college professors that did not mind me bringing my son into class with me once in a while, especially on those days when I did not have to rush to work right after the end of my school day. And during all this I met The Boyfriend. The Boyfriend who was a dealer.

On one of my rare nights off when my son was being babysat by his grandparents my boyfriend and I went to a house party. They brought out a little mirror with some white stuff on it, and a razor blade and a cut-off straw. I refused it at first, quite happy to sit back with my joint. And then they told me that it would help me stay awake so that I could do everything I needed to in a day. Honestly, they did not keep pushing me to try it either...I decided on my own to snort a line.

And that was it. I was hooked. There was no planning or anything like that. One line made me feel like nothing in the world could hold me back every again. I held the world in my hand at that moment...and I wanted to keep it that way. A few night later The Boyfriend admitted that he dealt the stuff and could keep me hooked up for free. Yeehaw! I'd hit the jackpot!

Or so it seemed at that point. My son never witnessed me snorting or free-basing, and had no idea what was going on. I could go for days without sleeping as long as I didn't start jonesing for another hit. Suddenly I was able to get all my schoolwork done and still work a full shift each night.

But I knew I was losing my tight grip. Classmates started asking me what was going on, and I was sent home a few times because I was in no shape to work. I didn't feel like there was anything wrong and I laughed it all off. But a part of me knew that if I didn't figure things out soon that everything would fall apart.

All it took was somebody saying that if my mother found out that I was doing coke that I would lose my son. Everything came to a screeching halt and I made up my mind that I was done. I dumped The Boyfriend that day (it was the last day of the college semester, thankfully) and tossed all his shit out. I stopped doing coke, and even managed to go to work that night although I had to leave early because I got a serious case of the shakes.

I spent most of the next couple of weeks in my bathroom, either curled up around my toilet or in the shower trying to get the smell off of me. My mother thought I was just suffering from a really nasty flu bug...I wasn't about to tell her the truth. That was one of the few times I was grateful that I lived in my parents' basement suite because I was in no shape to look after my son at all.

And remember how I said I'm an addict? Well, I still crave the feeling I got when I was on coke. It was heady and wonderful, and really really really bad for me. I did know that back then as well, but I was stupid. And trying to self-medicate.

Now that I have been able to put a lot of time and distance between myself and all the events leading up to that I can see why I did what I did. Yes, it was a lot of stupidity - I was stupid not to admit that there was something deeper going on, that I was in a toxic environment while I was anywhere near my mother, that there were better ways to escape that would not be so damaging or long-lasting.

I can look back and see WHY I was so stupid. I felt that my options were limited, and that I had to find a way to succeed in my balancing act of work, school, and parenting. The feeling of being whacked out was freeing in so many ways because I could forget for a brief moment in time all the shitty things that my life was...even as I was trying to raise a child while beating myself up in so many ways.

And now I wonder if part of the reason my brain chemistry is fucked up enough that I will have to take pills for the rest of my life is due to my cocaine addiction. I will have to live with that for the rest of my life. Do I blame myself? Hell yes, of course I do, but I have learned to accept that it was a coping mechanism, even though it was not the right one.

I am upfront about my addiction when people ask me. My son, now that he is older (22) is aware of it - he has also never touched even so much as pot around me. I am aware that many kids try pot when they are in their mid to late teens and I was one of those parents who believed that if they're going to do that, that I'd rather them be safe and do it at home. I even offered to buy it for him from somebody I knew and trusted if he wanted to try it. He didn't, and still doesn't, have any interest in it. Drinking was another story until the last time he drank when he made himself sick- hadn't touched it since.

I do not judge others for their addiction - we all have our stories, whether it be due to starting from peer pressure, as a way to escape, or even as a way to self-medicate. I will do what I can to help in terms of quitting or detoxing, and sometimes I will walk away until the addict is willing to help themselves. Sometimes a person has to hit bottom before realizing that they need help. It is hard to watch somebody throw their life away like that, but once caught in the clutches of addiction it is very hard to escape, regardless of what drove you there in the first place.

[Seshat]

And sometimes getting free requires the very tricky simultaneous solution: correcting the addiction and the circumstances together.

[patiokitty]

And sometimes getting free requires the very tricky simultaneous solution: correcting the addiction and the circumstances together.

Yeppers. I stopped hanging around with the people I had been because I knew that the temptation would still be there. I became very much a hermit as a result, but it was for the best. And when I moved to another city and made new friends I walked away from the friendship when they started going down the same path.

While it makes for me being lonely I know that it is for the best for me. Yes, I know where to find any of it if I want it, but if it is not within easy access then I will not give into temptation. And I have friends now who do not touch drugs or alcohol so I can avoid it that way as well.

[kaycivine]

Two of my half brothers did it to escape from intolerable circumstances.

I was forced to live through over half the consequences since One didn't become clean until I was 17 (He was in prison when I was 4-13 then back and forth until 16)
The other wasn't clean until I was 21.

Growing up knowing what they did, seeing what they did... I realized I never wanted to do drugs to run away. What I did wasn't much better (self harm) but when you see your brother lose his shit and throwing food and plates at you after smoking a blunt (which was probably laced but it was enough to freak me out from touching marijuana) and then your other brother stealing your friends and your own items and burning valuable ones like a kimono in a drug stupor...yeah...it leaves a mark.

That's just the mild stuff.

I admire those who can get out of it. For whatever reason, too. I am still bitter that one of my brothers is totally okay with leaving a bad impression to me while blaming our mother for it all....

To those who are still stuck in a drug addiction, as in actively abusing....think about those around you. You may think you're hiding it, but chances are, that won't last long. I knew the younger of my brothers was on drugs since I was 10. Mom didn't catch on until a few years later.