A Differing Socialistic View of Substance Abuse
by Fred Harris
Most of my adult life I have suffered from the psychological and physical effects of substance abuse. Some of these effects have been (but are not limited to) anxiety disorders, psychological and physical dependency, and depression. I have had to deal with the physical, emotional, mental, financial, and legal consequences of my behavior. Because of how this problem has greatly affected the quality of my life, I have educated myself to overcome my problem of addiction through personal assessment, imparting of information, interpretation and proper counseling and guidance. There are techniques and policies used (or not used) in American society that prevent or hinder those who suffer from substance abuse from the most effective method conducive to straightening their lives out. In this paper it is my hope to present ideas based on personal experience and counseling methods that will help those who need assistance in overcoming their addiction.
The best way to describe my life up to this point is one of peaks and valleys. I grew up in a middle class neighborhood raised by my grandparents. Like my mother I was a free spirit who didn’t relish restrictions of any kind. If I was told I could not do something, I was even more determined to do it. It only occurred to me many years later why I never missed being in personal relationships. Being independent allowed me the opportunity to participate in a lifestyle that was dangerous and carefree, hence my pitfall into drug addiction. As I grew older my behavior problems increased and I was always in and out of trouble of some kind, angry and lashing back at life without knowing why. Surprisingly my grades in school were always above average but I allowed myself to believe that school was a waste of time. I considered myself an intensely practical person and all I was looking for was immediate better results in life. However, since this paper is not a biography of my life, it is not important how my addiction occurred but rather how one can pull oneself out of addiction once there.
Addiction is no respecter of persons. It plays no favorites. It is always true, always serious, always severe; it is always right and the errors and faults are always those of man. It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, male or female, black or white. It doesn’t matter if you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth or if you came from a deprived background. Many people, myself included, have a hard time with this idea because we are so accustomed to looking for the reasons for our lives outside ourselves. Most of us believe that health, happiness, peace, prosperity and high achievement just occur in the course of human destiny if you happen to be in the right place at the right time. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you want to be a doctor, you study and practice medicine. If you want to be a good cook, you study cooking by getting cookbooks and using proven recipes. Hence if you want to rid yourself of any addiction, you study the people who have had success in this area and then you do what they did until you get the same results in your own life.
As I began my quest to rid myself of my addiction, I formulated three basic operating principles. First, life is hard. It always has been and always will be. Second, everything I am or ever will be is up to me. I am where I am today because this is where I have chosen to be. You are always free to choose your actions, or inactions, and my life today is the sum total of those choices, good and bad. Therefore if I want my future to be better I need to make better choices. Third, and perhaps the most important is you can learn anything you need to learn to become anyone you want to become, to achieve anything you want to achieve. Life has very few limitations, and most of them are on the inside, not on the outside.
Unfortunately in the United States the drug abuse problem is one of police and justice. American drug policy is based on the assumption that there is no such thing as a criminal free drug abuser. In America what you have is a policy where officials at the top of the policy making pyramid tell the abuser what to do and what not to do and if the abuser fails to comply he or she is put in prison. Being arrested and exiled from society has never been the overlying factor which brought about my cessation from substance abuse. Inmates with drug problems often receive little or no treatment for their abuse or dependence while in prison because the penal system offers very little support in this area of rehabilitation. On numerous occasions I had been released from custody with no better a grip on my drug problem than when I was arrested or detained. For many years I was unaware that there was a problem that needed professional treatment. In short I was viewed as a drug-induced person, whose use allowed stupefaction to overwhelm rational thinking.
In conclusion, we are equipped with both a “success mechanism” and a “failure mechanism.” Our failure mechanism is our natural tendency to follow the path of least resistance, our impulse toward immediate gratification with little or no concerns for the long-term consequences of our actions. This is what addicts do. Over the years my painful struggle with drug addiction forced me to come to terms with my problem. There were times I was overcome with anxiety, depression, and exhaustion. My behavior fluctuated between violent and passive states. Through proper counseling I was able to find my way out of the downward spiral I had sent myself into. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from my substance abuse counselor who told me, “If you want to climb out of the hole that you have dug yourself into through drug addiction, the very first thing you need to do is quit digging.” The obvious suddenly dawned on me. I couldn’t recover until I stopped using. I firmly believe had I been treated solely for my addiction by the courts without being stigmatized as a criminal because of my abuse, my road to recovery would have been less painful and certainly more effective sooner. However, it is still our responsibility to exert our powers of self-discipline and will-power to make ourselves do the things we need to do to get where we want to be in life. Addiction is a very serious social problem that affects all members of society one way or another. We need more people asking those in need, how can we help you return to a productive life in our society?
