WHY PEOPLE GET HIGH?
- Escape school, family, and social pressures
- Low self-esteem
- To be accepted
- To feel like an adult or appear sophisticated
- Curiosity
- Availability / boredom
- Risk taking behavior / as a challenge
- Novelty / to be different
- Self medicating other mental health issues
Early Signs predicting future drug abuse
- Associating with drug users
- Lack of attachment or lack of relationship with parents
- Ineffective parenting / mixed messages / inconsistent consequences
- Caregiver or sibling that abuses drugs
- Aggressive behavior
- Lack of self control / impulsivity
- Poor social skills
- Poor school performance
In the beginning, people use to feel good.
After becoming addicted, people use to not feel bad.
In the beginning, people use because they want to.
After becoming addicted– people use because they have to.
If you think you know an addict, the best way to handle them is with care, facts, and assertiveness. Separate the person that you care about from their disease. The disease is bad and the person is sick. “I love you, but I hate your disease….I will do nothing to help you get high. I will do everything possible to help you get sober.” You can love an addict and still hate their disease. It’s actually good policy. Obviously, it is important for anyone dealing with an addict to not tolerate behavior that risks their health, safety, well-being, or sanity. Remember, it takes a great deal of courage to challenge and confront a person who is abusing drugs and alcohol. In reality, most people lack this courage and end up leaving a person who is in trouble alone. This is unimpressive and common.
You don’t have to be an addict to benefit from not using drugs or alcohol!
A lot of people don’t get high. Not because they were arrested or their mom is watching them. But because America is competitive! You don’t want to be chemically restrained by drug abuse, withdrawals, and hangovers watching other people pass you by. This is the stark reality– you will never reach your full potential abusing drugs.