Substance Abuse:A Guide to Society

Most of us today, think we know a lot about addiction and substance abuse. Maybe we do, maybe we do not. The grey area around addiction is because there is a story behind every single addict. The key lies in acknowledging these stories and personalizing the process of recovery.

We all know that it is an excruciating pain to see someone we care about slowly lose themselves to the evils of substance abuse.

Empathy is said to be the active part of sympathy, the action that follows the feeling. I believe a lot of problems in today’s world that can be solved through empathy.We have been trying to force many people under one umbrella and provide them with a single motivation. But what if we empathized with those who struggle and looked deeper into their personal reasoning and their mindset?

If you give a monkey the motivation to climb a tree and get its food at the top of it, the monkey may very well succeed. However, if you give a cat the same motivation, it, too might succeed, albeit with extra sweat. But there is no way in the world, that an elephant or a shark can achieve success. The poor shark can not even get to land, let alone its food!

This analogy is age-old, still, society fails to realize that some addicts are not able to succeed, simply because when it comes to recovery, one size does not fit all.

From the general and scientific point of view, the reason for addiction being so hard to quit is explained below:

• The reaction to addiction is controlled by the brain.

• When you take drugs, the chemical signals in your brain affects your choices, your actions, and moods.

• The part of the brain that makes one feel pleasure is changed by drugs. Normally, this pleasure centre is active when you experience something you enjoy.

• When someone takes a drug, they first feel a "rush" or "high."

• But over time, the "high" is not as strong. And they need the drug to keep from feeling bad.

This is what happens when you are addicted.

We know the stories of thousands of celebrities and public figures who have overcome addiction, some of them through the will of their own mind and support from friends, and the rest through rehab centers, seeking professional help.

I was able to narrow down the recovery process of people and their motivating reasons to mainly three. These are:

• Rediscovering a passion that was replaced by the drugs: The qualities of a person who once derived happiness from them are consumed by the drugs. Many people have backtracked this vicious cycle and tried to unearth their forgotten talent. Slowly but surely, most of them have been able to give their passion a place on the mantle, knocking addiction out of the picture.

• Feeling ashamed with oneself and the ardent desire to get life back on track: In such cases, the addicts are brought to realisation of their problems very quickly, and by themselves. This sets the fire of individualism and gives a motivation like no other. Daniel Radcliffe, the Harry Potter actor describes his decision to recover as “tired of waking up everyday feeling ashamed”.

• The strength of love and friendship: Love and support in all the above cases are important, but in this case, the main motivator for recovery is restoration of happiness, peace, and normality, especially in the family and friend circle.

We, as a society, need to learn that our foe is substance abuse, not the substance abusers. If we think of the problem with this changed notion, we can affix the evil to the problem and not the perpetrators. This will induce change in people’s reaction to drug users who are in desperate need for help but are unable to acquire it themselves.

However, provisions of law and order must still be applied to repeat offenders, but with a view of recovery in mind.

People grow together. There is no growth if even one person is left behind. We must surge forward, remembering to fight the sin, not the sinner.

WRITTEN BY:-

Raushan Jamal