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As few as 10 years ago, with the
decreasing popularity of cocaine,  national
surveys documented encouraging trends towards decreased
drug use and there seemed to be a glimmer of light (hope)
at the end of the tunnel. Shortly thereafter, heroin made
a come back and worked its way into mainstream America,
especially with the youth and unfortunately it is still
going strong. Then came Methamphetamine, Ecstasy, Club Drugs,
and a host of prescription drugs, all of which are highly
addictive.
Addiction is a subject that is hard to define and has long
been debated within the professional and medical circles
and in society in general. On this website we will confine
ourselves to addiction, however please realize that there
are several stages a person goes through on his way to becoming
a full-blown addict. We will discuss these in greater detail
in the Stages & Symptoms section of this site.
What is Addiction? According to Webster's Dictionary it
is: "1.The quality or state of being addicted."
For the purposes of clarification we will use the definition
of addiction given by Fisher & Harrison (1), it is defined
as: "Compulsion to use alcohol or other drugs regardless
of negative or adverse consequences." Once an individual
arrives at this stage of the game, there is a slight to
zero chance he or she can successfully turn around on their
own volition, and will in fact need help, assistance, guidance,
and treatment or more commonly referred to as "rehabilitation."
If they do not receive successful rehabilitation at this
point, they will continue to move backwards in life and
will most likely manage to get themselves in a structured
environment that physically removes them from the drug so
they can not continue killing themselves.
The structured environments we are referring to are prisons,
jails or hospital care facilities resulting from criminal
behavior, brain damage or a psychotic break, all of which
can be attributed to the addiction of drugs and alcohol.
Please note that the afore stated are NOT rehabilitation
centers but they do present an opportunity for a loved one
to intervene and get the addict the help he or she needs
to successfully recover from their addiction.
If an individual should be released from these "structured
environments" without successful rehabilitation they
will resume with their addiction. At that point they will
continue a downward slide, moving backwards in life. The
skills and abilities they had gained prior to the addiction
will be lost, they will continue digressing and will become
unable to do simple everyday tasks. As a result of escalated
drug use the person will eventually become so consumed by
the addiction, which in reality can result in death. 
There is no denying that the abuse of drugs and alcohol
is rampant in America today. It is easily likened to a large
tree with many branches. The trunk and roots represent addiction
to alcohol and other drugs, the branches represent a plethora
of ills felt on all levels of society, such as ill heath,
disease, illiteracy, divorce, crime, drugged-fetuses, child
abuse, spouse abuse, decreased work productivity, work absenteeism,
unemployment, increased welfare, increased taxes to fund
government sponsored treatment, increased taxes to fund
prison systems, premature deaths, disrupted families, detrimental
effects on partners and children, et cetera. Unfortunately
the branches go on and on. The branches are the symptoms
of the problems; if one could treat the trunk (the addiction)
successfully a lot could be saved.
We cannot emphasize strongly enough the need for successful
rehabilitation once an individual reaches the addiction
stage. However, we must caution you on the fact that there
are several methods of treatment available and while they
all have some varying degrees of success all people will
not respond to the same generic treatment model. It is crucial
that the treatment approach match the addiction and the
variable factors in the individual's life as well. We will
cover Drug Treatment Approaches later on this site in an attempt
to help supply you with enough information to make the best
decision for addiction rehabilitation programs.
For free Alcohol & Drug treament center referral - CLICK
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