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Mthandazo Ndlovu
ADDICTION affects all aspects of a person’s life. It serves us some benefit to look at the varying reasons why people turn to drugs and alcohol, in the first place. It is also helpful to examine which aspects of a person’s life are negatively affected once they start misusing substances, but the truth is once a person becomes addicted to drugs and alcohol, that habit affects all aspects of his life.
That is why there is never a good reason to use drugs and alcohol. Drugs and alcohol use, set off a series of events and reactions which lead to a point where the proposed “solution” becomes even a greater crisis than ones previous struggles they were having.
Addiction is a crippling affliction, a harsh condition, and a problem of growing severity the longer it is left untreated. Substance abuse may start seemingly a sensible “solution” to problems faced in one’s life, before long the addiction becomes the most severe in the person’s life. It is even life threatening and can prove to be fatal if the person does not seek help.
In the same line of thinking consider the following reasons one may give to indulge as a remedy and the consequences that follow:
– The “remedy” of drinking at night to forget stress from work ends up with the person losing their job having showed up at work drunk the next day
– The ”solution” of smoking marijuana when the wife or husband is stressing one out ends up with one losing their spouse and finding it difficult to have a healthy relationship going forward.
– The” relief” one gets from using marijuana right after work leads to a drugged driving accident that causes severe physical damage, making it even impossible to show up at work rendering one to be out of a job and have no income birthing other problems.
– The “energy” one gets from using cocaine, a habit one started so that they could get more done is now causing him to do less as most of his time is spent hunting for the cocaine.
– The “surge of euphoria “one got from using methamphetamine to get out of the feeling of being depressed ends up causing havoc in public , ends up being arrested or in a mental hospital. Now the person has more sadness and depression than before.
– The ”relaxation” one sought from heroine leads to the very opposite of relaxation in the form of mind numbing, withdrawal symptoms and intense, painful craving for the drug.
– The ”pain free living” sought in the form of an opioid pain reliever pill ends up leading to tolerance building, self-medication, chemical dependency, withdrawal symptoms and illegal drug seeking habits. What started as back pain becomes full body pain with a costly, illicit drug habit to boot.
There is no good reason to start.
Mthandazo Ndlovu is a drug prevention and rehabilitation specialist, addictions counsellor, adolescent counsellor and professional counsellor. For help and more information call or WhatsApp +263772399734 or email [email protected] and join the Rechabites in creating drug-free healthy communities.
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