Battling Addiction

By Sandee Foxten

We were high school sweethearts. Reunited after nearly 20 years, he was the one my heart had always belonged to. Love at first site is real. That is how we fell in love. The first time we saw each other, our eyes met and from that moment on, my life has never been the same. My first marriage ended in divorce and my second marriage left me as a young widowed mother of two. About a year after my husband’s death, I got a very shocking email. He was looking for me! My high school sweetie was trying to find me and I just broke down and cried in disbelief. At the time, I thought it was fate. I was on top of the world thinking that I would finally be with that one special person I never seemed to be able to put out of my mind. After talking for awhile and getting up to date on each others lives, I learned that his life was far from joyous. At the time, he was in a place in another state that helps drug addicts. He had a job and seemed pretty stable. He told me he had been clean for two years. Not knowing anything about drugs myself, I thought that all he needed was me. I thought that as long as he had my love and knew it was true, he would never feel the need for drugs again. My entire world was fixing to be turned upside down.

After driving to another state to be reunited with my old flame, we decided that he would move to my city so we could be together. He found a job really quick, but couldn’t find a decent place to stay. So I allowed him to stay with me. That is a move that didn’t take me long to regret. Once he stayed and I was in his arms, I didn’t want to let go of him again. So my home became his home. It didn’t take long to learn that he hadn’t given up cocaine. He started staying out all night. The first time, it wasn’t just all night, he was gone for several days. The truth started becoming reality not long after that. We had went out to a bar with some friends and after a few drinks, he wanted me to take him to buy drugs. I refused and told him we were going home. On the way home, we got into a heated argument and he tried to hit me. I was driving and I pulled over on the side of the at 4am and told him to get out. I wasn’t sure who this man was, but it wasn’t somebody I loved. I felt bad and went back to pick him up. We agreed that he would leave that night. He was going to pack his clothes and I would take him to the bus station. But when we got home, he took off in one of my vehicles. After we cooled down and he got his drugs out of his system, we agreed to work it out. But things only got worse. On payday, he wouldn’t bother coming home. He was gone for the weekend, getting high. Eventually, he started stealing from me. He stole items from my home to trade for drugs or money to get drugs. He stole my credit cards and drained my bank accounts. I had to take leave from my job because the situation was so stressful.

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By Lauri Starr-Jones

Marijuana is highly addictive and it is often called pot, reefer, grass, herb, weed or even Mary Jane. It is a greenish mixture of dried and shredded leaves, seeds, flowers and stems. Most people smoke this mixture by using hand rolled cigarettes, called joints, and some even call it “bongs”. Another favorite method is to make “Blunts” which are prepared by slicing cigars and then replacing the tobacco with marijuana. It is often combined with other drugs such as cocaine. Some addicts also use it to brew tea or sometime consume it, mixed with food.

An individual gets highly addicted by Marijuana, and later this addiction, limits potential. It triggers numerous psychiatric disorders, and individuals suffer from the withdrawal syndrome associated with this drug on stopping consumption. This is a real threat to the younger generation who are in search of instant happiness. Generally, parents are unaware of many teenage habits and they underestimate the threat that marijuana poses to 21st century teens.

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By Sandra Maria Stammberger

With the fact that Drug Addiction is catching up fast and is as deadly as the Human Immuno Virus spread Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), it is extremely important that we look at ways of treating drug addiction. We all know it is a major issue with a cross section of people affected by drug addiction. Treatment of drug addiction is a combination of traditional, spiritual and the medical way which allows the patient to combat drug addiction.

Treatments for drug addictions are always administered in facilities like clinics, hospitals, drug rehab centers etc. in the presence of trained physicians in administering addiction medicine and doctors who are specialized in treating addiction related cases. It may seem that treatment of drugs is very simple, but in fact treatment centers have to be ultra cautious with their patients who enroll in drug rehab or treatment programs. The first step of any treatment for drug addiction is detoxification. The effect of consuming drugs like Marijuana, Cocaine is that the toxic remnants of these drugs are left behind in the human body.

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By Michael Russell

Drug or alcohol addiction is a sneaky disease. It keeps you believing that everything is under control and it all depends on your will whether you want to quit or not, but in reality it doesn’t work that way. An abuser who keeps thinking that “its no big deal” and “everything is under control” is in a state of denial. This can keep a person in the cycle of addiction for years.

Once the addict comes to term with his addiction and recognizes that a problem does exist, you can help the person stay on the road to recovery.

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By Gary Paul Evans

There are few things more damaging to a relationship than an addiction. I constantly hear from my readers that their partner’s marijuana addiction eats away at their finances, ruins the time they have to spend together and overall leaves them feeling second-best to a leafy green weed.

It is understandable that a person dealing with their partner’s marijuana addiction will feel frustrated, insecure and even angry at their partner’s unwillingness to change their ways. Unfortunately, these feelings often result in animosity and fighting rather than a solution of the problem. It takes a person of great character and patience to stay with an addict through their recovery – especially when they are not willing to admit they have a problem.

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By Steve Sandlin

Drug Test Detection Times refer to the “window” of detection for drugs of abuse. If a person is tested too soon or too long after use, drugs may not show up in human urine. Often someone will ask us, How long to drugs stay in the body? This short guide will help to answer that question. For the purposes of clarity, this guide is a reference for the detection of drugs of abuse found in human urine.

How long do drugs stay in your system? The length of time that the presence of drugs of abuse in the body can be detected is an important factor in drug screening. The chart below outlines approximate duration times. When interpreting the duration for the presence of drugs of abuse in the body, you must take into consideration variables including the body’s metabolism, the subjects physical condition, overall body fluid balance, state of hydration and frequency of usage.

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By Tywford Lamai

Let us begin with the definition of drug rehabilitation: Drug rehabilitation or therapy is a procedure. In most instances persons will be admitted into a stay at a medical unit/facility and will go through a succession of examinations, tests, questions, analyses etc., etc. Now although these people undergo a phalanx of questions and tests, in the end, the ultimate aim is to help the patient to purge their bodies of the toxic drugs that at one time impaired their judgment and ability to function appropriately and also to subsequently permit them regain control of their lives, thereby allowing them full realization that toxic drugs are unimportant, unnecessary and bad/harmful.

Guess what? A good drug rehab program will centers strongly not only on the mind but also on the physical issues surrounding the breaking of an addiction. Fundamentally important to an excellent drug rehab procedure is a good and meticulous drug detoxification program.

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By Sheryl Letzgus McGinnis

We did everything the experts told us to do. We did what we thought was right. But lurking around every corner was the Monster. The Monster was waiting to pounce on us and steal our dreams and destroy our future. He did. Bigtime!

You may know the Monster by another name - Drugs! Whatever name you give him, he’s an unforgiving and unrelenting monster who, according to the DEA, claims the lives of one American every 20 minutes.

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By Gabriel J. Adams

Affecting individuals of all ages, marijuana has become an easily accessible and in some social circles, easily acceptable drug known by a wide-range of nicknames and references. Marijuana may be green or gray in color, consisting of dried, shredded flowers or leaves that come from the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa. While the drug is commonly smoked as a cigarette (joint), it may also appear in a pipe, bong, inside tobacco paper, or is mixed with other drugs, food, or beverages. There are more than 200 slang terms associated with marijuana, ranging from “pot,” “weed,” and “Mary Jane.”

Effects of Marijuana Abuse

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By Morgan Hamilton

Alcohol and drug treatment has evolved quite a bit of past few decades. The first forms of alcohol and drug treatment were actually quite primitive compared to what’s available today. In the dark ages it was thought that addictions were caused by demonic possession, which had many different prescribed ‘cures’ ranging from blood letting to being burned at the stake. In the 19th and early 20th century, alcohol and drug treatment had made some strides towards improvements as opposed to when addictions were then considered forms of insanity and the treatments of choice involved straight jackets, padded rooms, and electric shocks. Could you imagine? You have to wonder what they were thinking?

What we consider today as modern alcohol and drug treatment didn’t really start until the second half of the 20th century. This was no doubt one of the well-known and often repeated ’12 step’ program designed by Alcoholics Anonymous. Doctors and practitioners slowly came to realize that effective alcohol and drug treatment was in fact a possibility. Some of the first forms of alcohol and drug treatment centers formed in this time were not much more than centers where the 12 step program could be taught. The treatments were actually more psychological than anything else.

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