Palm Trees

Crossed the Line From Drug Use to Abuse? What You Can Do Now

By Suzanne Kane

If you are reading this, something in the title resonates with you. You either know or suspect that you have crossed the line from casual drug use to abuse, or you are concerned about someone who has slipped into the drug-using pattern. You want to know, first of all, if it’s true, and secondly, what can be done about it.

Definition of Drug Abuse
Drug abuse or substance abuse is the repeated and excessive use of a drug, whether it’s an illicit street drug or a prescription drug used for non-medical purposes, in order to avoid problems and reality or to feel pleasure, despite any negative and damaging physical, psychological, or social consequences.

Signs That Drug Use Has Become Abuse
Every person who uses drugs has their own reasons for doing so. Why someone begins to use drugs is important in helping that individual understand root causes and motivations, but for the purposes of recognizing when drug use turns to abuse, why isn’t as important as what’s happening now. Ask yourself the following questions, as they are typical signs that drug use has become abuse:

• Have you missed work a few times recently due to using drugs?
• Are you chronically late or miss appointments altogether?
• Do you find yourself avoiding certain family members and friends because you don’t want to have them see the state you’re in or because they ask you too many probing questions?
• Do you find yourself taking drugs first thing in the morning?
• What about your conversations about drugs? Do you constantly talk and think about or pursue drug-taking, or try to engage others in taking drugs with you?
• Are your friends drug users also? Do you avoid any friends or associates who don’t take drugs?
• Do you feel that you are unable to relax or have fun if you don’t take drugs?
• Has your appearance begun to change to the point where others comment? Do you fail to groom yourself properly or wear dirty, excessively wrinkled, or torn clothing? Have you lost a noticeable amount of weight?
• Do you often make inappropriate, rude remarks?
• Do you often talk uncontrollably or in an incoherent manner?
• Are you frequently irritable? Do you experience wide mood swings or angry outbursts in public?
• Do you often feel depressed, anxious, and hopeless?
• Do you go through your days feeling exhausted?
• Have you begun to steal from others in order to support your drug habit?
• Do you lie to those closest to you—friends, family, and your employer—over just about anything?
• Have you sold things you own or borrowed sums of money just so you can continue using drugs?
• Do you leave the room or home or presence of others so you can secretly engage in your drug-using behavior?
• Do you have hiding places in the home, shed, garage, workplace, or elsewhere where you stash your drugs and/or drug paraphernalia?
• Do you feel that the only way to avoid pain is to take drugs?

From Abuse to Dependence: A Slippery Slope
Many drug users who cross the line into abuse do so without full awareness that they’re treading on a slippery slope. Abuse can turn into dependence so quickly that the individual doesn’t recognize what’s happened until the addiction is full-blown.

Sometimes the slide is precipitated by a desire to fit in, and the group the person seeks to become accepted into engages in drug-using behavior. When someone feels that taking drugs is the norm because everyone in the group is doing it (seemingly without any consequences), it’s easy to delude yourself that you can take drugs without any harm. This is a fallacy that’s soon proven. Similarly, some drug abusers continue to take drugs because they enjoy the adrenalin rush, the thrill, the euphoria. Others report that their drug use started out of curiosity or boredom, and continues because “they like it.”

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 53 percent of substance abusers suffer from at least one serious mental illness such as depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, or schizophrenia. Taking drugs may make the person feel good in the short term, but this never solves the underlying problems. Instead, drugs only mask the problems. Without the drugs, the problems become exacerbated, leading to more drug use.

Drug abuse never exists in a vacuum. It leads to numerous other negative consequences including serious harm to relationships with family, friends, partners, and employers. Generally speaking, the initial problems or difficulties the individual was trying to escape from by using drugs aren’t anywhere as severe as the host of physiological, psychological, social, financial, and legal problems that may occur with drug abuse and addiction.

Stop Drug Abuse Now: Steps You Can Take
Get off the drug abuse merry-go-round. Get into treatment. It’s the only way you can ever hope to be in recovery and become drug-free. What type of drug abuse treatment is best? The answer to that depends on the individual. Each person’s situation is different, and personalized treatment protocols have to be developed according to the person’s background, family history, type of drug used, and frequency and duration of drug use, among other factors.

There is no one-size-fits-all drug treatment program. Some individuals can go to outpatient treatment centers and successfully overcome their drug abuse problem. Others, particularly those with heroin addiction or dual diagnosis (substance abuse and/or mental problems, drugs and alcohol, abusing multiple drugs, etc.), require a residential or inpatient treatment program for the best recovery possibility.

Following treatment, the drug abuser or addict needs continuing support. Consider this a type of reinforcement of the kind of counseling and coping skills the individual learns while in treatment. Some recovering substance abusers are able to abstain from taking drugs fairly easily. Others relapse quickly and have to return to treatment, while some may experience a long period of abstinence only to succumb to drug cravings at a later date. And there are some who are unable to resist the lure of drugs regardless of treatment.

What is known is that drug abuse, dependence, and addiction cannot be cured, despite the considerable medical research being conducted to find cures for various addictions. There is hope for medicinal breakthroughs, but they are still a ways off. In the meantime, treatment is the only proven method. The longer an individual stays off drugs and in treatment, the more likely they’ll be able to remain drug-free in the future.

How to Find a Drug Treatment Facility
Don’t stress over this—take the direct route. Call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) referral hotline at (800) 662-HELP. You can also check out their treatment facility locator at http://www.findtreatment.samhsa.gov/about.htm.

There are also numerous websites with information on drug abuse and treatment. You can also check out various treatment centers on the Web. Here are some caveats when choosing a drug treatment center:
• Make sure that the facility or center is licensed to treat addictions in your state and that all of the staff members are licensed and accredited.
• Be sure that you hone in on a treatment facility that specializes in treating the specific drug you have been abusing.
• Inquire about their track record in successfully treating patients with this type of drug problem.
• Learn exactly what’s involved in the treatment program, including all costs for treatment, and any extra costs for additional services.
• Ask about aftercare or continuing care and support following treatment.
• Find out what is covered by insurance, whether the treatment facility or center has a sliding pay scale or ability-to-pay program, scholarships, or any available loans.
• Tour the facility to ensure it’s a place you feel is conducive to your treatment and recovery.

In the end, drug abuse doesn’t have to be a sentence. While it can’t be cured, you or someone you love can be treated and live a healthy, positive, substance-free life. What it takes in terms of time and money is less important than the two fundamental requisites: a genuine willingness to enter and go through treatment and the commitment to remain drug-free.