The Addiction Education Seminar

     Addiction is a disease. It runs deep and painful in the veins of those suffering from it. Addiction is utter torment, it’s a disconnect between ones true self and whom they try so earnestly to be on the outside. Addiction is the manifestation of ones crippling insecurities. Addiction is a brutal display of the mangled carnage of what could have been. Addiction is a headstone of those gone before their time.

     All of the aforementioned statements about addiction I do believe to be true, but I am not so clouded in my own personal experiences with it to deny the fact that it is a self induced cancer. It is based on the actions of those that succumb to it. I am aware of the fact that no one is forcing needles into anyone’s veins, no one is pouring liquor down the throats of those who don’t want it, and no one is railing lines in night club bathrooms involuntary. What I am here to do is end an argument that has no validity in even being a discussion. This little educational adventure that we are about to embark on together all stemmed from the fact that I recently discovered that are people who adamantly deny that addiction is a disease, and I’d really like to put an end to that type of ignorance if I may. Something that I found interesting while discussing this topic with folks that disagreed with me was that they all made the same three points in their arguments, and as I listened to them present their points, I couldn’t help but to notice that they were not only wrong but incredibly mislead. Now I’d like to dissect these commonly misconceived notions and graciously show people the errors of their ways.

     “Addiction is not a fucking disease, the dumb junkies just have no self control!” The infamous statement that people tend to use when they have no fucking idea what they’re talking about. People love to so proudly judge the struggles of others that they don’t know, they live to throw stones at the addicts whom are miserably suffering through a bleak existence. These high and mighty imbeciles make their barrel chested presumptions, when they have (from what I’ve discovered) never seen people fight their inner demons all the way to the fucking grave. If you think addiction is not a disease then you better get on your knees and give thanks to whatever God you believe in, that you or anyone you know has never had the monkey on their back. Thank the heavens you’ve never watched someone become a slave to a string of poor decisions. It has been scientifically proven that once a human being becomes addicted to a substance of any kind, that the chemical make up of their brain changes, serotonin receptors begin to react differently, and they begin to become dependent on the substance. In their minds they begin to feel the need for their vice (whatever it may be) the same way we feel the need for any of our basic necessities. Yet I digress, because I am most certainly not a doctor nor a scientist, I’m just a man on a mission to open the eyes of the uneducated and unrighteously opinionated.

     “They’re just weak! I’d never get hooked on that shit!” A statement made frequently by those who are generally pretty fucking lame. The nerds that say this are usually the same self righteous dickweeds that never tried drugs. *slight disclaimer ahead* Drugs are awful and I do not encourage them in any way, shape, or form. *disclaimer over* If you’ve never succumbed to peer pressure and never did drugs (that includes alcohol because it alters your sobriety and therefor is a drug) then good for you, and here’s your notional gold star. However, in my day I have, well let’s say, “been to a few different plains of existence” so I can understand why people become addicted. And by the slightest shred of luck, I have left that life behind and I thank my lucky stars that I never became hooked on anything. That being said, sobriety is for squares and reality is pain, and as much as that sounds like something out of a Jim Morrison poetry book, it’s the most basic way to explain the mentality of a user. We all look for something to dull that edge that cuts us. Some of us find it in jogging around the neighborhood, others find it in smoking meth out of a pipe made of aluminum foil behind a Denny’s. But as my  father always said, “That’s what makes horse races” simply meaning that we’re all  living our lives based on different M.O.’s. So if you’ve never left this realm that we live in, then you have no right to pass judgement and say that you have no sympathy for a struggle you simply don’t understand. Perfect exaple being, I don’t know the first thing about flying airplanes, so I find it best not to lecture pilots in the cockpit about flight patterns. Plainly put and all analogies aside, stay in your fucking lane dorks and educate yourselves on the symptoms of addiction, primarily the withdrawals and the come down that someone goes through when they try to kick their habit. It takes an enormous amount of strength and fortitude to ride out the horrors of the night sweats, night terrors, the shakes, the violent nausea and choose to remain clean, all while knowing full well the remedy for all of those symptoms is a phone call and a plastic bag away.

     “Who gives a shit if they die, they deserve what they got!” What an interesting point of view to have, and one that I wish I could empathize with, I really do. But when you are forced to watch a mother and father throw the ashy remains of their only child off of his favorite mountain range, it gut checks your perspective in a massive way. When you have to watch someone you know deeply and care for passionately throw insurmountable potential down the drain in the name of fuck all, and then and only then with eyes full of tears, a heart full of pain, and a brain riddled with confusion, I want you to tell me that “they got what they deserved.” Those of us who have tried to save people from the hands of their own demise have preached the opportunity of sobriety until someone was literally blue in the face. But there are plenty of us who give a shit if they live or die, because we’ve seen the unsurpassed and endearing will inside of those who have defeated their demons and we know that there is another side to all of this.

     I know I may come across as a broken record as this is not the first and will not be the last piece I write about the addiction epidemic. It’s still an enormous problem that goes overlooked everyday in this country. I will continue to write in an effort to eradicate and slander this devil that has taken so much from my family, my friends, and myself and has driven so many others into an indescribable oblivion. I’m not so naive to think that I can write an ending to addiction, but I am driven enough to keep bringing awareness and overturning stones to expose the vile problems we live amongst.