Drug Classes Teach About How to Avoid Gateway Drugs

How do you avoid using gateway drugs? Every drug class and drug counselor will tell you – abstinence. If you never try them you are guaranteed not to become addicted to a drug.

It has long been believed that tobacco is a gateway drug. Once your body experiences the joys and horrors of addiction to nicotine, you start to crave other addictive substances such as marijuana and alcohol. Often times, these substances are used together. How often do you see someone with a cocktail and a cigarette?  Once addicted to alcohol or marijuana, which are also considered to be gateway drugs, you are more likely to try more potent drugs such as cocaine or heroin. The theory is, "if you liked that, you will really like this." Besides, most of your friends are trying it.

Experts continue to claim marijuana is "the gateway drug". While I agree that marijuana is a gateway drug, I say that all drugs are gateway drugs! Think about that for a moment.

Drug use is a slippery slope and most people are unaware of or minimize how far they've slipped. We know that drug abuse kills but what we fail to consider is how drug abuse started out as a simple and fun way to hang out with friends. No one starts out with the goal of becoming addicted. Many drug users do not consider themselves addicted even though they think about the next time they will use, and look forward to it. Or feel a slight tension when they are not able to use. Whatever the case may be, I encourage you to stop immediately. If you stop now, then you never will become an addict. If you don’t, there is a good chance you will.

If you or someone you care about is using drugs, please seek help immediately. A good place to start is an anonymous online drug class. This will raise your awareness about your own use of gateway and/or stronger drugs.

Why Not Take a Drug Class?

As a counselor for both in-class and online drug classes I can tell you there is nothing funny about addiction. That said, I want to start this blog entry with a joke: "How can you tell an addict is lying? Her lips are moving."

The human brain is a powerful organ. It can convince the rest of the body to what it wants and when it wants. Deception and denial are sentinel features of active addiction.

Addiction leads people to commit crimes and to lie to loved ones and practitioners -- not to mention to themselves -- in order to satisfy the illness's obsession with chemicals or behaviors that deaden or otherwise alter feelings.

Think You’re Safe?

You may think just because you smoke a joint now and again for pop a Percocet here and there you are ok. Guess again! It's not just people addicted to the "hard stuff" who are in denial. There are millions of people equally addicted to legal substances, including but not limited to alcohol and nicotine.

If you think you are drinking, smoking or using drugs too often, I encourage you to take a drug class. Drug classes will not only educate you about the drugs and their effects on the human body, but help you gauge the nature of your use patterns. If you prefer to maintain total anonymity, there are online drug classes too.

Lung cancer kills 160,000 Americans each year, more than prescription painkillers and, despite the fact that it kills far more women than breast cancer, it gets much less attention. My mother, who died at 58 of lung cancer, never had to lie or commit crimes to buy her drugs, but the illness drove her to deception in myriad ways, not the least of which was to ignore her health. She smoked until the last weeks of her life and hid her cigarettes the way an alcoholic hides bottles or an addict hides a stash.

Those outside of the illness of addiction see the crimes and lies and conclude that "these people" must be morally depraved: thus the long-standing and persistent cultural conviction that addiction is a failure of willpower and morals. It can be tempting for physicians to take the lies personally and turn against their patients in anger.

Having lived with many people addicted to various drugs, including both my parents, I understand this temptation. After all, if we addicts respected you, wouldn't we tell you the truth?

Well, hell -- in active addiction, we can't spot the truth if it falls on us, which it often does. Distortion of reality is part of addiction. As the late author David Foster Wallace, himself a recovering alcoholic and nicotine addict, once said, addiction is the only illness that tells us we're not sick.

Social stigma throws up additional disincentives for an active addict to face the truth. For several years I was reluctant to admit to my physician that I was having a terrible problem with my medications: I knew if I mentioned the A-word I would be kicked out of the practice into a psychiatric hospital -- thus being forced to deal not only with the complications of drug withdrawal but also with I didn't know how much debilitating pain. Call me proud, but I also couldn't bear to see the look in the clinic staff's eyes when my chart was labeled with the Scarlet A.

In the end, after seeing my father die at 68 of gastrointestinal cancer that was untreatable because of his severe alcoholic cirrhosis, I decided I had to get help. I was able to hire a physician to manage an outpatient detox for me. I was lucky -- not everyone is so fortunate.

Facing the Truth

Dr. Capretto of Gateway told me it's hard to tell how many Pennsylvanians need addiction treatment and can't get it, but, according to a report from the Pennsylvania Recovery Organizations Alliance, in 2009 more than 800,000 people in our state couldn't get treatment because of financial constraints. Those who want to get sober who have neither the cash nor insurance to cover medically supervised detox and those on Medicare -- which, unbelievably, does not pay for treatment centers -- have to sweat it out on their own, a dubious and sometimes risky proposition, especially if they've been taking popular sedatives such as Xanax or Ativan, or even alcohol, withdrawal from any of which can cause life-threatening seizures if not monitored.

I'm not suggesting that society tolerate dishonesty or criminality. My point is that those caught up in addiction usually can't recognize that they're being dishonest. Instead of censure and punishment they need help healing from "this problem." Those who love people who are addicted also need help understanding addiction, so they can learn to protect themselves and to recover from the prolonged damage it can cause in families and communities.

Finally, we need to learn how to talk sensibly with our children about addiction prevention. Regina Labelle, chief of staff in President Barack Obama's Office of National Drug Control Policy, told the summit audience, "It's hard to talk to kids about prescription drug abuse."

But why? Kids are imaginative and intelligent creatures, and metaphor and story always work well to explain tough subjects. In my experience, speaking to them about addiction is a matter of letting them know that an internal switch exists inside the body and mind that gets flipped once we're exposed to chemicals or behavior that change or suppress one's feelings. With greater and more frequent exposure to drugs and alcohol, people with a genetic predisposition to addiction run the risk of flipping that switch permanently. Once the switch is soldered to "On," it can never be turned off. So it's important for kids to learn to deal productively with feelings and to be extremely careful about their exposure to these substances and behaviors.

I've been talking to my son about this disease that runs in his family for three years. He understands that when he goes to high school this month, he needs to be especially alert about drinking and drug use.

I'm not too worried. He's a competitive soccer player who, when injured, is vigilant even about how much ibuprofen he takes. He knows substances and behaviors can change feelings. He knows addiction can kill. So far, he wants to experience life as it is.

And this part of the message is equally important, and often forgotten: If the switch gets flipped, it's important to get help, no matter what it costs, and sooner rather than later. Effective help exists, and it saves lives.


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/perspectives/addicts-are-not-low-lifes-649550/#ixzz246n3kAG3

Opioids Go Mainstream!

Whether you are rich or poor, black or white, tall or short, skinny or chubby, there is no way to guaranty you will not become addicted to something in your lifetime. No one is immune from addiction.

I will not be the first to say that a major factor in the drug problem in America today stems from the fact that opioids are not readily available. Until very recently these powerful narcotics were only available to cancer patients and patients who were terminal. If you were looking for pain relief it was aspirin acetaminophen, or maybe a codeine-based medication if you went to a physician.

Today doctors prescribe opioids as if they were aspirin. That wouldn’t be so bad except that while they are very good at getting patients on these drugs, they can’t help them get off. I know doctors take the “necessary” precaution of warning their patients as to the dangers and addictive nature of the medicines, but they know that many of their patients will, and are becoming addicted to these powerful painkillers.

Most People Benefit from Drug Awareness Classes

If you or someone you care about is addicted to prescription medication, please seek help immediately. The first decision should be to quit using drugs. The second should be to take a drug class. If you prefer to maintain anonymity, there are online drug classes too.

Are You Ashamed to Take a Drug Class?

One of the hardest steps toward becoming sober is fear. There are many kinds of fear and every person is different. One of the most common fears is that you have to come clean about your addiction. Your friends, family and coworkers who drank alcohol or used drugs with you in the past will need to know why you have stopped.

Many people choose to try lying when they first become sober. They will tell their cronies they are quitting to lose weight or because they want to be able to pass a drug test.

It is easy to “save face” if you decide to start drinking again because you gave up on your diet or didn’t get the job you hoped for. You can “hide” the true reason - because you are so addicted to the drug of choice that you cannot quit.

Just Quit

If you successfully quit using weight loss or employment the logical argument becomes now that I have not drank or used in six months or a year, I feel great. I don’t want to go back to that lifestyle.

Coming home and having several beers might be soothing, right? Being a coordinator for online awareness classes I normally try to discuss with my pupils about the calming feeling of alcohol consumption; it usually enables them to reduce anxiety and it's a subject matter you have to pay attention to as well. The simple truth is, individuals who drink seldom and they love to get pleasure from their glass of wine, feel more relaxed.. Do you feel this way?

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

This famous saying is quite intriguing to speak about, considering that even a book was printed on this topic. If alcohol consumption and illegal drugs are not your thing, then you may not realize what I am about to point out.

The "small stuff' are the activities you engage in, like walking your dog and having to pay your expenses. Commencing these tasks is not nerve-racking at all. To addicts, even simple chores like these become main pain.

A New Idea

In my talks with my pupils who could be hooked on illegal drugs and or alcohol, this is a truism which hits their very core. A lot of people, such as my college students hooked on alcohol consumption, think about alcohol as a strain crusher.

I do hope you understand that precisely the contrary is correct - alcohol consumption is a tension causer!

Alcohol leads to stress on any degree. Simply by knowing that you're an alcoholic will cause tension. Possibly they're concealing their drinking dilemma from their manager. Others might feel the need to ensure that it stays a secret right in front of their close friends and loved ones. Without a doubt, covering a drink, which almost everybody who has a drinking problem does at some time in their life - is incredibly stressful!

Back to the Small Stuff

Leaving behind the fact that you have to hide your addiction, the real stress in your alcoholism . Mail can stack up triggering simple expenses to be late and have a late payment recharged. Tension is also triggered when money is a difficulty.

Your called. You know But you generally say that you'll give her a call in the afternoon. Then it will become the next day and therefore the tension accumulates. Then she phone calls once more and you've got to say I'm sorry.As a result of alcoholism you will feel that burdened and stressed.

Perform the simple Tasks

My very best advice for you is to attempt to overcome your habit. Don't turn into a puppet of alcohol addiction! The best way of course is not to take part in whatever your dependency is so that you could fully enjoy your life. Addictions, no matter what they are, will draw you away from many crucial aspects of your life.

Take steps now while you still can. Don't let the mail stack up. Don't leave unreturned phone calls stay unreturned permanently. I assure you, that by taking hold and dealing with these seemingly menial jobs quickly your anxiety levels will reduce and you will feel better about yourself.

Alcoholic beverages is a junk and a poison. In case you or a loved one is affected with a drinking or perhaps drug difficulty, please seek out help right away. If you're too ashamed of your issue, there are online alcohol drug classes you can participate in. Hence, you will get the help necessary to get rid of your addiction permanently.