Drug Addiction: What Is It Actually and How Do You ’Cure It’

It is probably a good idea right at the start to define addiction so there is no mistake as to what it is and what one is dealing with, after all, one can be addicted to aspirin as well as drugs sold illegally on the street.

The definition preferred by the psychiatric profession, which health professionals and presenters on TV and radio have difficulty in getting away from, is one that allows for the continued use of drugs in the addict’s life. They define addiction as substance abuse. This implies that it is ok to use drugs provided of course that you don’t ’abuse’ them. You can smoke a joint, (usual way to intake marijuana) or use other drugs as long as you don’t do it too often or too much in one go! It’s safe that way, according to them.

So, let us look at a few workable definitions on this subject so there is no mistake in what is actually meant by addiction, abuse, overdosing, and rehab.

Dictionary generally defines addiction as

Addiction: to use to bad effect or for bad purposes, misuse.

So, one may ask how many joints should you smoke before you are in danger of misuse or abuse of marijuana. Let us see now… err…?

Overdosing: Too much all in one go.

Rehabilitation: Return to normal condition.

However, taking an addict on heroin and putting him on to another drug like methadone (which is the main psychiatric method) is not rehab, it is re-addiction to a different drug). The addict certainly isn’t returned to the condition he was in before he got addicted.

Now let us take a look at just some of the effects various drugs have:

• Marijuana produces loss of coordination and distorts one’s sense of time, vision and hearing. Heaven help us if a car driver nearby is under the influence. (That driver is also at risk of a heart attack in the first hour of smoking a joint.) Long-term use of marijuana damages lungs, the heart and the ability to fight illness, to say the least never mind its mental effect. Nice when you are high and absolutely awful when you come down.

• Ecstasy—if you want to try impaired judgement, a false sense of affection, confusions, depression, muscle tension and drug cravings this could be the one to choose.

• Cocaine and Crack Cocaine—intense highs and intense lows. Spasms and convulsions, paranoia, anger, inability to eat or sleep. Long term if you want irritability hallucinations, mood swings and restlessness this one does it all.

• Heroin can be smoked or injected and comes with clouded mental functioning, vomiting, collapsed veins, infections, lung complications, hepatitis, AIDS and death from heart and lung function slow down. If that’s your want, then that is the one to try.

These are just a few of the symptoms of each of these drugs, you can find the rest in the booklet Drugs—What You Need To Know. It makes informative reading and beefs up parents and teachers on what they can say or teach to their children or charges at school on the subject of drugs.

Narconon has a valuable rehab programme that can help the individual to rehab, reclaim his sense of ethics, re-line up his life to practical worthwhile activities and get going never to return to the state of drug addicted. The effects listed above can be eradicated, it takes effort and determination but it can be done.

For information on the Narconon programme and interviews from many who have rehabilitated on the Narconon programme check out the blog or the testimonials and find out for yourself.

I am a Narconon programme completion. I have not looked back since I did the programme. I have my life back.

Jemima J. Jones