It's an old story, substance abuse starts with the choice to try drugs and to use them. If people don't try or experiment with drugs or alcohol, then they will not get addicted. So ok, I get that about drugs. Even if you think you're unique and you will be able to handle the drug, deep down inside you have to know they're pretty much habit forming. Yeah, come on, even if you thought you were different, that YOU could handle it, the thought of you becoming an addict was floating around out there somewhere, whether you admit it or not.
But alcohol! Come on, everybody drinks, including grandma. So no, I had no deep concerns about picking up that first drink. Besides, it was fun, I liked it, it was like being a grown up.
Psychologists, addiction counselors, etc all can spew out factors that lead to drug and alcohol abuse. We have stuff like heredity, lack of self-esteem, peer pressure, family issues, etc. Open any book on the subject and there will all kinds of factors that lead to addiction and why people get hooked. The problem with all these lists of factors is none of them maybe operating within the person's life who starts using drugs or alcohol and they still become addicted.. On the other hand, there are people out there who have of some or all of the factors operating within their life and they do not become addicted.
These factors are not the cause of drug abuse. The unfortunate choice to try and then continue using drugs or alcohol is the main cause. Simply put without using any hard to pronounce and hard to spell medical terminology, if a person's body/brain chemistry likes the drug, they are on a downhill road. The addiction process overrides the ability to make choices. As a friend of mine says when he tells his alcoholism story, "there is a Chinese proverb that says, 'the man takes a drink, the drink takes a drink, the drink takes the man.'" That's exactly what happened to me. My brain chemistry loved alcohol so much it overrode my ability to make choices about not using alcohol. My body chemistry loved alcohol so much, it could not function without it. I had forfeited my right to choose and my body was grateful for it.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Innocent Choices Can Lead to Addiction
I didn't see any danger in just having a few beers. I certainly did not think it would lead to addiction. There was no peeer pressure attached to my decision. Just being 18 and being able to go across the stateline to drink legally seemed like a cool thing to do. This was back in the mid - 1960's, and in New Jersey where I lived, the legal age to drink, like now was 21. However just minutes away in New York State, the legal age was 18. So off I went, to what would become a daily occurance.
The thought of being an alcoholic never entered my mind. I'm not even sure if I knew what an alcoholic was! At the time, I didn't know anybody that was an alcoholic. Oh sure, I'd see that occasional "bum" on the street, but I never associated his/her situation with alcoholism or drug abuse. Were their family or friends who got drunk on occasion? Sure. It was bound to happen, liquor was at every event. But everyone got home safe, and all the men got up and went to work the next day. No big deal.
So I gave it no thought. It wasn't like I was shooting up, or doing some drug that I had no control over. And weed was boring. This was only having a few drinks. Jeepers, everybody has a few drinks. or so I thought. Besides, I fit in. I could hold my liquor and caused no problems. I was a witty conversationalist and an excellent listener. Everybody liked me. It was like being on the television show "Cheers". Everybody new my name and they were always I glad a came, at least for awhile, anyway. Nobody thought that within 10 years, I'd be homeless and eating out of garbage cans. Especially me.
The thought of being an alcoholic never entered my mind. I'm not even sure if I knew what an alcoholic was! At the time, I didn't know anybody that was an alcoholic. Oh sure, I'd see that occasional "bum" on the street, but I never associated his/her situation with alcoholism or drug abuse. Were their family or friends who got drunk on occasion? Sure. It was bound to happen, liquor was at every event. But everyone got home safe, and all the men got up and went to work the next day. No big deal.
So I gave it no thought. It wasn't like I was shooting up, or doing some drug that I had no control over. And weed was boring. This was only having a few drinks. Jeepers, everybody has a few drinks. or so I thought. Besides, I fit in. I could hold my liquor and caused no problems. I was a witty conversationalist and an excellent listener. Everybody liked me. It was like being on the television show "Cheers". Everybody new my name and they were always I glad a came, at least for awhile, anyway. Nobody thought that within 10 years, I'd be homeless and eating out of garbage cans. Especially me.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
N.J. moves closer to criminalizing 'bath salts'
"This is clearly the right thing to do, and hopefully we’ll get it to the governor’s desk within the next week," said Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex) who sponsored an Assembly version of the bill earlier this year. "We will codify current Attorney General’s office policy and be in a position to prevent future tragedies like the one that claimed the life of Pamela Schmidt."
Today’s action reconciled McKeon’s bill with legislation sponsored by state Sen. John Girgenti (D-Passaic) that aims to make possession or sale of the six chemicals used to cook bath salts a third-degree narcotics crime punishable a five-year prison term.
Dealers caught with more than an ounce of MDPV, mephedrone or other chemicals used to manufacture the powders could face up to ten years in state prison under "Pamela’s Law." The Division of Consumer Affairs enacted an emergency order earlier this year banning the six chemicals, and a public hearing to make that ban permanent is scheduled for July, officials have said.
The bill, which has traveled quickly through the Senate and Assembly, met some opposition from Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris), who said the state’s law enforcement first approach to other street drugs and substance abuse issues has yielded little success.
"Science keeps inventing new ways to make people feel good and then we rush off to ban them … I’m not really certain that the criminal law is the way to go on these things," said Carroll, who cast the lone "no" vote against the bill. "Locking people up for taking substances that are perfectly legal in other states doesn’t strike me as a good expenditure of taxpayer funds."
McKeon scoffed at Carroll’s claims, saying "Under that philosophy we might as well say it’s fine to commit domestic violence because it’s going to take up a lot of cops' time."
By
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Prescription pills pave path to heroin, experts tell state commission
Thursday June 16, 2011
TRENTON — A growing number of young people are using prescription pills to get high, because they’re widely available and seemingly harmless fun. But that practice can lead to deep addiction and eventual heroin abuse, experts testified Wednesday before the State Commission on Investigation.
The hearing was part of a state investigation on the abuse of prescription pills and its ties to heroin use and drug trafficking. It’s an issue that’s gripped many North Jersey police departments, which have reported a rise in overdoses, arrests and burglaries linked to heroin addition, and many say pills are the root of the problem.
The abuse of prescription pills is a growing problem in suburban, affluent communities. It typically starts at home as teenagers steal painkillers such as OxyContin and Percocet from parents’ medicine cabinets, said police and state investigators. Then, users will turn to friends or “dirty” doctors to get more.
The Center for Disease Control found in a 2009 survey that 1 in 5 high school students have taken a prescription drug without a doctor’s prescription. The problem is aided by “dirty doctors” who prescribe painkillers to people who don’t need them, either for money or because they’re indifferent to whether there’s a real need, police said.
Part of the problem is that pills don’t carry the same stigma as street drugs and young people are often oblivious to the risks; officials said they pop pills for fun at home, at parties and even at school, and eventually they are hooked.
“It’s not the same stigma you’ll see attached to an IV heroin user with the classic image of a junkie on the street sitting there in the corner with a needle stuck in his arm,” said SCI Investigative Agent Edwin Torres.
Addicts who can no longer get pills or afford them will often turn to heroin, which like many painkillers is opiate-based. The cost of a pill ranges from $20 to $80 depending on brand and strength, but heroin is to be had at $5 or $10 for a “glassine” bag the size of a stamp.
Two recovering addicts told the commission through videotaped testimony that they never imagined they would use heroin — until they were so deep in addiction that dozens of pills couldn’t sustain them through the day, and not being high meant physical pain and nausea one said was “20 times worse than the flu.”
“It never crosses your mind until you get to that point,” said a 21-year-old man from South Jersey, who started using pills at 11 before becoming a dealer and heroin addict.
He said he has seen addicts steal from family and friends or burglarize homes and businesses — anything to get money for the next fix.
“Every day an addict wakes up and all he cares about is getting high,” Jernick said. “Nothing else matters.”
But drug investigators are up against high-tech dealers who use pre-paid cell phones and smart phone apps to hide their identification, and who installed sophisticated hidden compartments in their vehicles, Dombroski said.
The hearing was a first step in an ongoing investigation, said SCI Chairman Patrick Hobbs.
“The SCI will continue to look at this and in time will bring forward recommendations in the hope that we can, for at least some of the population of the state, end the pain and cycle that these drugs cause,” he said.
TRENTON — A growing number of young people are using prescription pills to get high, because they’re widely available and seemingly harmless fun. But that practice can lead to deep addiction and eventual heroin abuse, experts testified Wednesday before the State Commission on Investigation.
The hearing was part of a state investigation on the abuse of prescription pills and its ties to heroin use and drug trafficking. It’s an issue that’s gripped many North Jersey police departments, which have reported a rise in overdoses, arrests and burglaries linked to heroin addition, and many say pills are the root of the problem.
“It’s available. They come and get their hands on it and whey they get addicted to it, what’s the next step? They go to heroin,” said Lt. Thomas Dombroski of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.
The Center for Disease Control found in a 2009 survey that 1 in 5 high school students have taken a prescription drug without a doctor’s prescription. The problem is aided by “dirty doctors” who prescribe painkillers to people who don’t need them, either for money or because they’re indifferent to whether there’s a real need, police said.
Part of the problem is that pills don’t carry the same stigma as street drugs and young people are often oblivious to the risks; officials said they pop pills for fun at home, at parties and even at school, and eventually they are hooked.
“It’s not the same stigma you’ll see attached to an IV heroin user with the classic image of a junkie on the street sitting there in the corner with a needle stuck in his arm,” said SCI Investigative Agent Edwin Torres.
Addicts who can no longer get pills or afford them will often turn to heroin, which like many painkillers is opiate-based. The cost of a pill ranges from $20 to $80 depending on brand and strength, but heroin is to be had at $5 or $10 for a “glassine” bag the size of a stamp.
Two recovering addicts told the commission through videotaped testimony that they never imagined they would use heroin — until they were so deep in addiction that dozens of pills couldn’t sustain them through the day, and not being high meant physical pain and nausea one said was “20 times worse than the flu.”
“It never crosses your mind until you get to that point,” said a 21-year-old man from South Jersey, who started using pills at 11 before becoming a dealer and heroin addict.
In Vernon, a township of 25,000 people that borders Passaic County, addiction has taken a deadly toll: in the past four years, nine recent high school graduates have died of overdose from pills or heroin or a combination of both, Vernon Detective Sgt. Brian Jernick told commissioners.
He said he has seen addicts steal from family and friends or burglarize homes and businesses — anything to get money for the next fix.
“Every day an addict wakes up and all he cares about is getting high,” Jernick said. “Nothing else matters.”
Heroin trafficking is still the domain of gangs in Paterson, Newark and New York City, police said. But processing — the cutting and packaging of the drug — can now be found in the suburbs, as evidenced by a recent police bust of a heroin mill in a residential basement in Fort Lee, Dombroski said.
Unlike in other counties, cocaine still outpaces heroin in street sales in Bergen County, Dombroski said. But, he added: “There’s definitely a trend in heroin being more and more available.”
The hearing was a first step in an ongoing investigation, said SCI Chairman Patrick Hobbs.
“The SCI will continue to look at this and in time will bring forward recommendations in the hope that we can, for at least some of the population of the state, end the pain and cycle that these drugs cause,” he said.
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